CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — Republican Gov. Patrick Morrisey issued a slew of aggressive executive orders on his first full day as West Virginia's chief executive Tuesday, including one enabling families to receive religious exemptions from required school vaccinations — a massive departure for a state with one of the strictest vaccine policies in the nation.
Another order called for the termination of all Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, or DEI, initiatives from state-run institutions, something Morrisey said he believes will protect West Virginians from racial and gender discrimination — especially “inappropriate” preferential treatment for certain groups over others.
“I think the public deserves nothing less,” he said at a news briefing at the state Capitol. According to U.S. Census estimates for 2024, West Virginia’s population is just under 93% white, making it among the least diverse U.S. states.
Efforts to end DEI initiatives are expected to expand in Republican-led states under President-elect Donald Trump, who has vowed to get rid of perceived “wokeness” in education. Some higher education institutions are already dismantling diversity offices in states such as Florida, Kentucky, North Carolina, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska and Texas.
In announcing the executive orders, Morrisey cited the conservative-leaning U.S. Supreme Court’s 2023 decision to strike down affirmative action, declaring race cannot be a factor in college admissions. Morrisey said his administration would be sending letters to all cabinet officials and agency heads asking them to review any “potential DEI that may exist within state government.”
He wouldn’t specify what DEI initiatives he was referring to, but said they exist: “Before I start calling everyone out, I want to see the changes put in place.”
West Virginia Democratic Party Chair Mike Pushkin was not impressed with the executive orders, calling them a “troubling example” of executive overreach that “could harm us for generations.”
Pushkin accused the governor of using “divisive rhetoric aimed at dividing people by race" adding that it appears to him that the governor is “trying to not just make laws, but also interpret them.”
“The newly elected governor of West Virginia needs to remember that he’s the governor for all of us, even people who don’t necessarily have the same beliefs as him and also people who don’t look like him,” he said.
During his press briefing, Morrisey said the governor's role is to help ensure that the Constitution is interpreted "correctly and enforced the right way."
The vaccine executive order upends a school vaccination policy long heralded by medical experts as one of the most protective in the country for kids. State law requires children to receive vaccines for chickenpox, hepatitis-b, measles, meningitis, mumps, diphtheria, polio, rubella, tetanus and whooping cough before starting school. The state does not require COVID-19 vaccinations.
West Virginia is also part of a tiny minority of U.S. states that only allows medical exemptions for vaccinations.
The move also represents a radical departure from the stance of former West Virginia governor and current Republican U.S. Sen. Jim Justice, who last year vetoed a less sweeping vaccination bill passed by the Republican supermajority Legislature that would have exempted private school and some nontraditional public school students from vaccination requirements.
At the time, Justice, who is a girl's public school basketball coach and became known across the country during the COVID-19 pandemic for his pro-vaccine stance, said he had to defer to the licensed medical professionals who “overwhelmingly” spoke out in opposition to the legislation.
A faction of the Republican-controlled Legislature has tried for years to no avail to expand exemptions to the state’s school vaccination laws.
Morrisey, who served as West Virginia’s attorney general from 2013 until he was sworn in as governor Monday, said he believes religious exemptions to vaccinations should already be permitted under a 2023 law passed by the state Legislature called the Equal Protection for Religion Act.
The law stipulates that the government can't “substantially burden” someone’s constitutional right to freedom of religion unless it can prove there is a “compelling interest” to restrict that right.
Morrisey said that law hasn’t “been fully and properly enforced” since it passed.
The process for applying for a vaccine exemption, which is still being finalized, will likely involve parents explaining their religious beliefs in writing to the state Bureau of Public Health, the governor said. He said he also plans to clarify with lawmakers, who return to the Capitol for their 60-day session next month, that religious exemptions are permitted under the state’s vaccine statute.
U.S. kindergarten vaccination rates dipped in 2023 and the proportion of children with exemptions rose to an all-time high, according to federal data posted in October.
The share of kids exempted from vaccine requirements rose to 3.3%, up from 3% in 2022. Meanwhile, 92.7% of kindergartners got their required shots, which is a little lower than the previous two years.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic the vaccination rate was 95%, the coverage level that medical professionals say makes it unlikely that a single infection will spark a disease cluster or outbreak.
West Virginia previously had some of the highest vaccination rates in the country. A recent U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report on kindergarten vaccination exemptions cited the state as having the lowest exemption rate in the country, and the best vaccination rates for kids that age.
Along with Mississippi, West Virginia is the U.S. state with the worst health outcomes and lowest life expectancy rates.
Leah Willingham, The Associated Press
