Courts Block COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate for Healthcare Workers

UPDATE 12/01/2021: Louisiana District Court Judge Terry Doughty has temporarily blocked the Biden Administration's COVID-19 vaccine mandate for healthcare workers in more states. The preliminary injunction essentially freezes implementation of the mandate nationwide except in 10 states where a federal court has already halted implementation.

A federal court has blocked the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for healthcare workers in ten states until the legality of the mandate is determined by a full judicial review. The states impacted by the decision are Alaska, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming.

The states filed a lawsuit on Nov. 10, 2021, challenging the interim final rule requiring all workers in healthcare settings participating in Medicare and/or Medicaid to get vaccinated by Jan. 4, 2022. The states claimed that the final rule was unconstitutional and violated the Administrative Procedure Act. They asked the court to halt enforcement of the rule two days later.

The US District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri granted the states a preliminary injunction in a decision released on Nov. 29, 2021. The vaccine mandate for healthcare workers was slated to impact 10.3 million employees starting early next year, according to CMS estimates in the final rule.

US District Judge Matthew T. Schelp stated that the plaintiffs “are likely to succeed in their argument that Congress has not provided CMS the authority to enact” the vaccine mandate for healthcare workers.

“While the Court agrees Congress has authorized the Secretary of Health and Human Services (the ‘Secretary’) general authority to enact regulations for the ‘administration’ of Medicare and Medicaid and the ‘health and safety’ of recipients, the nature and breadth of the CMS mandate requires clear authorization from Congress—and Congressed has provided none,” Schelp wrote, emphasizing the word “general.”

Additionally, the vaccine mandate for healthcare workers is likely a violation of regulations, including the Administrative Procedure Act and the Social Security Act, which require a notice and comment period before rules normally take effect, according to the court order. The mandate would also cause harm to healthcare facilities, Schelp stated.

“[W]hile, according to CMS, the effectiveness of the vaccine to prevent disease transmission by those vaccinated is not currently known, what is known based on the evidence before the Court is that the mandate will have a crippling effect on a significant number of healthcare facilities in Plaintiffs’ states, especially in rural areas, create a critical shortage of services (resulting in no medical care at all in some instances), and jeopardize the lives of numerous vulnerable citizens,” the court order said.

Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt declared the preliminary injunction against the vaccine mandate a victory for the coalition of states challenging the final rule.

“This is a huge victory for healthcare workers in Missouri and across the country, including rural hospitals who were facing near certain collapse due to this mandate,” Attorney General Schmitt, said in a press release. “While today’s ruling is a victory, there’s more work to be done, and I will keep fighting to push back on this unprecedented federal overreach.”

The Missouri Attorney General’s Office has also filed suit to stop enforcement of a vaccine mandate on private employers and federal contractors. A federal judge previously halted the Biden Administration’s enforcement of the vaccine mandate on private employers with 100 or more workers.

Fourteen other states have also filed federal lawsuits challenging the vaccine mandate for healthcare workers. The states named in the lawsuits are Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, and West Virginia. No decision has been made in the cases yet.