Photo Courtesy/WV Governor’s Office Gov. Patrick Morrisey said he supports a new lawsuit aimed at blocking a West Virginia Board of Education directive requiring counties to follow current state law on school-age vaccine requirements.

CHARLESTON — While unable to file a lawsuit against the West Virginia Board of Education himself, Gov. Patrick Morrisey threw his support behind a parent’s lawsuit seeking to block guidance to county boards of education to follow the current compulsory school vaccination law that does not permit religious exemptions for students.

In a press conference at Tamarack in Beckley Tuesday morning, Morrisey said he supports a lawsuit filed in Raleigh County earlier Tuesday by Miranda Guzman on behalf of her child seeking a preliminary and permanent injunction against the West Virginia Board of Education, State Superintendent of Schools Michele Blatt, and the Raleigh County Board of Education.

“You have an unaccountable set of bureaucrats in the school board that’s trying to take matters into their own hands. That’s unacceptable to me,” Morrisey said. “I fully support Miranda’s ability to seek a religious exemption, and I support her lawsuit against school board bureaucrats. Remember, this is the politically unaccountable board who are trampling on her religious freedoms.”

The lawsuit seeks to block a June 11 unanimous vote by the state Board of Education requiring Blatt to issue guidance to county school systems that they follow the current State Code requiring children attending public and private school to show proof of immunization for diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, polio, measles, mumps, rubella, varicella and hepatitis B unless proof of a medical exemption can be shown.

The vote was in response to a Jan. 14 executive order allowing for religious and conscientious objections to the state’s school vaccination mandates. The executive order required the commissioner for the Bureau of Public Health/state health officer to establish a process for parents/guardians to request religious or philosophical exemptions to school-age vaccines, only requiring a request in writing from the parent/guardian. To date, no state health officer has been appointed.

“Faith and family are not just values, they’re constitutional rights,” said Department of Health Cabinet Secretary Arvin Singh. “Gov. Morrisey and I, as the Secretary of Health for the State of West Virginia, stand firm in our commitment to protect those rights.”

In May, the Governor’s Office released guidance to schools and parents seeking vaccine exemptions. The state Department of Education had also released a memo to county school superintendents ordering them to follow the state vaccination law but walked that memo back due to pressure from the Governor’s Office.

An effort to codify Morrisey’s executive order failed when the West Virginia House of Delegates voted down a heavily amended Senate Bill 460. But Morrisey’s vaccine executive order remains in effect. Morrisey said his executive order instead clarifies State Code based on legislation passed in 2023 – the Equal Protection for Religion Act – that prohibits excessive government limitations on the exercise of religious faith.

“No government entity, whether state or local, may burden an individual’s religious liberty,” Morrisey said. “In my view – and I think the view of many, many people – this applies to the topic of religious exemptions for vaccines. And that 2023 law was passed over any of the conflicting laws.”

The lawsuit was assigned to 14th Judicial Circuit Judge Todd Kirby, a former Republican member of the House of Delegates who offered an amendment in 2023 to House Bill 5105, eliminating the vaccine requirements for public virtual schools, allowing for a religious exemption for all vaccines in public and private schools as long as a parent or guardian presents a letter stating the reasons for the religious exemption request. That bill was later vetoed by former governor Jim Justice.

One of the attorneys representing Guzman is Aaron Siri of the law firm Siri Glimstad with offices in multiple states and Washington, D.C. The law firm specializes in vaccine exemption and vaccine injury cases. Siri made headlines recently for helping vet new employees for U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., himself a noted vaccine skeptic. Siri has also asked for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to revoke approval of the polio vaccine.

“As the Governor said, and I think he said it very well, this is not about vaccines per se,” Siri said. “Everybody who wants a vaccine should be free to get one. Get as many as you want. That’s freedom. This is about religious freedom. This is about impinging on people’s rights who don’t want to receive these vaccines.”

On one hand, both Morrisey and Siri said they were not questioning the efficacy of vaccines.

However, both pointed to claims that certain childhood vaccines contain “fetal debris,” even though several medical organizations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), claim that fetal cells are not present in routine childhood vaccines.

“Vaccines do not contain fetal cells,” the AAP states. “Some vaccines involve growing viruses in human cell cultures originally developed from two aborted fetuses in the 1960s. These cell lines are still going, so no new aborted fetuses are ever needed. Purification processes filter the vaccine during production, and no fetal tissue remains.”

The West Virginia Board of Education consists of nine members appointed by the governor serving for staggered nine-year terms, and three non-voting members. All of the current members were appointed by former governor Justice. Morrisey will not have an opportunity to appoint a new board member until after Nov. 4, when Debra Sullivan’s term is up.

One of the board’s non-voting positions is the State Superintendent of Schools, who is selected by the board and also serves as a member of the Board of Public Works alongside six statewide elected executive branch officials, including the governor.

Christy Day, communications director for the Department of Education, said the state Board of Education has not been served with the lawsuit as of yet, pointing back to a previous statement by the board following its decision to support the current school-age immunization law.

“The WVBE directed the State Superintendent of Schools to notify all school districts to follow the law that has been in effect since 1937,” the board stated.

“This is in line with the actions of the West Virginia Legislature during the 2025 Regular Session which did not vote in favor of religious exemptions for vaccines.

“The intent of the State Board is to do what is best for the 241,000 children, 23,000 educators, and 15,000 service personnel in our 629 public schools,” the statement continued. “This includes taking the important steps of protecting the school community from the real risk of exposure to litigation that could result from not following vaccination laws. This Board is constitutionally bound to provide a thorough and efficient system of free schools, and our members remain committed to this charge.”

Attorneys with the ACLU-WV and Mountain State Justice filed a lawsuit in May on behalf of Kanawha County and Cabell County parents seeking a writ of mandamus from the Kanawha County Circuit Court directing the Governor’s Office to abide by the state’s school-age mandatory immunization program, as well as seeking to have Morrisey’s executive order deemed unlawful or invalid. That lawsuit is pending.