I took exception to the way former Gov. Jim Justice handled many issues, but I admired the way he was smart enough to recognize what he didn’t know and turn to the experts with the knowledge to guide him. During the COVID pandemic he turned to WVU health officials to guide him and thus guide the State. And, when the legislature sent him a bill that would legalize religious exemptions for mandatory vaccines prior to entering public or private schools in West Virginia, Justice relied on the advice of the West Virginia Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatricians when it sent a letter to him stating that the bill “ran counter to our goals for protecting patients and the public at large from preventable diseases.”
Justice listened to the experts and vetoed the bill.
Newly-elected Governor Patrick Morrisey held a press conference as soon as he was sworn into office stating that he would issue an executive order allowing religious exemptions to mandatory vaccination.
The law is the law, and as a former Attorney General, Morrisey knows that the current law (State Code 16-3-4) allows no exemptions to the mandatory vaccination requirement for a child to enter either a public or private school. He also should know that an Executive Order cannot override the law nor can he order state employees to violate that law.
West Virginia is one of only six states in the nation that allow no exemptions to mandatory vaccinations and the medical community applauds us for being strong enough to stand our ground to protect our children.
Gov. Morrisey is citing a bill passed last session that gives equal protection for religions as making his action legal.
I think not. Nor does the Kanawha County Health Board who issued a statement saying, “mandatory childhood immunizations are critical for protecting children from diseases such as measles, mumps, chicken pox, tetanus, polio and whooping cough.”
The WV Chapter of American Academy of Pediatrics also put out a statement. “Weakening these policies will have consequences for our ability to protect the community from infectious diseases….. Actions that weaken our State as a whole and will increase the risk to West Virginia children.”
I’ve always thought that much like a legislator, the goal of a Governor is to “first do no harm.” It’s concerning to me that Morrisey’s first act was taken without consulting with those medical and school professionals who know the ramifications of allowing religious exemptions. And without a doubt, his action will do harm to our most vulnerable.
There is a photo that has been enlarged that hangs on the wall at WVU Medicine-Weirton Medical Center of a patient in an iron lung. One picture is worth a thousand words, and that picture says it all for me.