Reprinted with permission from Alternet

West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice (R) has a message for the residents in his state that refuse to get vaccinated.

On Friday, September 17, Justice held a press conference to appeal to residents as vaccination rates in the state remain stagnant. With just 45 percent of residents vaccinated, West Virginia is still a state with one of the lowest vaccination rates in the United States, Justice is hoping people will begin to take COVID vaccination seriously.

He also made it clear what could happen if people continue to refuse vaccination.

"We're going to run to the fire and get vaccinated right now, or we're going to pile the body bags up until we reach a point in time to where we have enough people that have natural immunities and enough people that are vaccinated," he said.

Justice made it clear yet again that if eligible individuals do not get vaccinated, "they'll keep dying" and "we're just going to keep lining the body bags up and we're going to line them up and line them up."

At the time, Justice made his disappointment clear as he expressed frustration and concern about those who are still unvaccinated. The Republican governor also emphasized that there is no longer time to make a decision.

"It's too late, West Virginia. It's too late for you to decide, you know, 'Oh, we should have gotten vaccinated.' You can't stop this now, what's happened in West Virginia. But you can still save your own life, or lives that are around you, by getting vaccinated."

Justice's latest press conference follows his remarks a few weeks ago in response to the conspiracy theories about the vaccine. At the time, Justice weighed in on the bizarre "microchip" theory.

"Why in the world do we have to come up with these crazy ideas—and they're crazy ideas—that the vaccine's got something in it and its tracing people wherever they go?"

To improve the state's vaccination statistics, the state of West Virginia has even resorted to offering incentives and prizes to encourage residents to get vaccinated.