Executive Power, Parental Rights, and Vaccine Mandates: The Battle for West Virginia’s Religious Exemption
West Virginia—long known for having one of the strictest vaccine mandates in the country—is now the latest flashpoint in a growing national conflict between medical orthodoxy and constitutional liberty. Earlier this month, Governor Patrick Morrisey issued an executive order recognizing religious exemptions to school vaccination requirements, citing the state’s 2023 Equal Protection for Religion Act (EPRA). https://apps.sos.wv.gov/adlaw/executivejournal/readpdf.aspx?DocID=97525 But almost immediately, the West Virginia Board of Education pushed back, directing schools to ignore the order and continue enforcing the statute as…