CHARLESTON, W.Va. — State General Patrick Morrisey says there are several aspects of federal COVID-19 vaccine mandates that he is working toward halting.
The first has to do with health care workers who work for Medicare of Medicaid providers.
“Every health care worker can go up to their employer and say ‘wait a minute, you need to wait until that issue is resolved in the court,'” Morrisey said on MetroNews affiliate WEMP in Martinsburg last week.
Another vaccine mandate has been run through OSHA, and according to Morrisey, it has been paused.
“That’s actually pending in the 6th circuit, but it’s very significant. That’s on hold for the foreseeable future because we expect that it probably won’t get resolved until sometime next year,”
Last week, Morrisey joined forces with his counterparts in several other states who have filed motions attempting to block the Biden administration’s vaccine mandates.
There’s a temporary hold on the federal requirement and is currently being appealed by federal officials.
In places like the Eastern Panhandle, where there are a larger number of residents employed as federal contractors, Morrisey argued government agencies do not possess the authority to establish vaccine mandates.
“Congress never really delegated these types of authorities to these agencies, so they don’t possess the ability to do what the government is saying they can do,” he said.
Morrisey called the mandates “an unlawful attempt to federalize national vaccine policy and override the states’ police powers on matters of health and safety.