Good news last week as Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares sent a message to the Democratic Party as to whether the state executive can enforce vaccine mandates.
The answer?
General Assemblies can; Attorney Generals and imperious governors? Not so much:
BREAKING: I've issued my first ever Attorney General opinion – Virginia state universities cannot mandate the COVID-19 vaccine as a condition for enrollment or in-person attendance.
Check it out here ⬇️⬇️⬇️ pic.twitter.com/dliMICczCZ
— Jason Miyares (@JasonMiyaresVA) January 28, 2022
In essence, Miyares argues that while universities can indeed mandate vaccinations (polio, smallpox, and the like) they can only do so by the authority of the General Assembly — which means citizen legislators accountable to the people get to decide the question and not state-level bureaucrats attached to academia.
Though the Virginia General Assembly has certainly taken the time to regulate other aspects of the COVID pandemic, to date neither the Democratic-controlled Virginia Senate nor the Republican-led House of Delegates has elected to take up such legislation, ergo there is neither the impetus nor the authority for Virginia’s public universities to do so of their own accord.
Virginia Democrats were swift to condemn the AG opinion, for the obvious reason that it was issued by a Republican AG.