AG Morrisey condemns vaccination requirements
Discusses planned lawsuit during town hall meeting

West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey spoke to over 50 residents Tuesday afternoon at The Rock Church in Parkersburg about many issues his office is working on at the state and federal levels. (Photo by Brett Dunlap)
PARKERSBURG — West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey told local residents Tuesday there were a number of ways to deal with the pandemic that did not violate people’s rights.
Morrisey appeared at the Rock Church in Parkersburg and addressed over 50 residents about a variety of topics his office is working on, including the continuing opioid epidemic, Second Amendment rights, perceived federal overreach on a number of issues, including vaccine and mask mandates, and other issues.
“This is the single busiest time we have ever had in the AG’s office,” he said of finishing up his ninth year as the West Virginia AG.
One of the focuses of the AG’s office has been “to prevent the federal government from running rough-shod over the state of West Virginia,” Morrisey said, through court action.
Many people present Tuesday asked questions about vaccine mandates related to employees at the Bureau of Fiscal Services, the WVU Medicine system and other places. Many felt it wasn’t the federal government or others to mandate vaccines while people have questioned the effectiveness of vaccines and whether they are really safe.
“As a statewide official I have said no mandates on my watch,” Morrisey said. “We are going to be suing the Biden administration over the federal mandates.”
They are waiting for them to officially go into effect and the regulation is finalized. Morrisey said they have 24 states that will join together to fight those in court.
He wants to make sure religious and health exemptions are honored.
“It is always better in life to persuade and educate rather than mandating,” Morrisey said. “You can’t get to herd immunity through herd mentality.
“There is a better way to do this to make sure we are coming together as a state and nation rather than all the political nonsense you are seeing.”
People have been given deadlines soon to get the vaccine shots or lose their jobs. People were wondering if that can be legally done.
“We need an injunction, we need time,” said local resident Christina Peters. “We are talking about people losing their income and many are one income families. They will not be able to make their house payments or take care of their kids.
“They are feeling forced. That is not informed consent.”
Morrisey said the mandates from the Biden administration are “insane and absurd” as his office plans to fight them in court once they are finalized and go into effect.
Other people said they were not asked about their vaccinations since childhood or the number of times they have had a flu shot the way they are about the COVID vaccine.
Some wanted his office to investigate COVID deaths and other aspects of the virus for possible fraud.
Morrisey said he had COVID, has known people who have had it and it impacted a lot of people greatly. He told people it was real and not to think it was fake.
He said the pandemic has become political for many people and that is guiding a lot of actions and reactions in pitting people against each other. He said a lot of people lost their jobs and businesses had to close, due mostly to politics, not science and data.
“As a civil society, we persuade and we educate, we don’t mandate,” Morrisey said. “If this wasn’t so politicized more people would have gotten vaccinated and more people would have handled it the right way.”