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West Virginia Attorney General Morrisey talks fight against vaccine mandates

By Brett Dunlap 3 min read

PARKERSBURG -- West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey spoke about the need to challenge vaccine mandates in a discussion in Parkersburg Monday.

Morrisey spoke on a variety of issues with local constituents and local lawmakers during a talk held Monday at West Virginia University at Parkersburg. He discussed the legal questions regarding vaccine mandates and people's rights in regards to such mandates and other matters his office is involved in.

"The issues we are working on are very hot, whether we are talking about the vaccine mandates, some of the litigation we are talking about the litigation happening on the federal government side or the opioid epidemic, " he said. "There is more work that we are doing than we have seen in a very long time.

"These are issues that people really care about."

Morrisey said they obtained a stay on vaccine mandates in regards to an Occupational Safety and Health Administration requirement.

"That is on hold," he said, adding he doesn't know how long that will last as they are filing their motions and making their arguments. He said they already have an injunction in place. They should know more about how the case is proceeding in the next few weeks.

He feels that one will likely be struck down in court, because the agency lacks the authority to do it.

Vaccine mandates in regards to federal contractors. Morrisey said they have file lawsuits and are seeking injunctions.

Morrisey said they are involved in a 12-state lawsuit regarding federal vaccine mandates for healthcare workers. They are expecting action on that in the next few weeks.

"We believe the federal agencies lack the authority to act and this is new ground for the federal agencies to be pushing these kinds of vaccine mandates," he said. "They are going to be very aggressive on all of these fronts, but we believe strongly in West Virginia that the federal government does not have the authority to do these mandates."

Morrisey said in some instances the federal government as an employer and other employers are given more room to implement some of the systems they want to protect the health and safety of their workers.

"That is going to be the most challenging one," he said, reiterating his support for people against those kinds of mandates. He talked about a Jan. 21 deadline when some mandates are supposed to be done. He has reached out to employers and others and asked them to hold out on implementing it as many employers are worried about losing workers if mandates go through, especially with health care workers.

"I am doing everything in my power to block all of these mandates," he said. "Some of these have a better chance of prevailing than others."

Brett Dunlap can be reached at bdunlap@newsandsentinel.com.

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