Leadership | 12.01.21
Federal Judge Blocks Biden's Vaccine Mandate for U.S. Health Workers
by New York Times
Judge Terry Doughty recently issued a preliminary injunction to halt the start of President Biden's national vaccine mandate for healthcare workers. The injunction effectively expanded a separate order issued on Monday by a federal court in Missouri. That earlier order had applied to just 10 states that joined in a lawsuit against Biden's decision to require all health workers in hospitals and nursing homes to receive at least their first shot by Dec. 6 and to be fully vaccinated by Jan. 4. Doughty, based in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, wrote that "mandating a vaccine to 10.3 million health care workers is something that should be done by Congress, not a government agency." At the same time, he stressed that "it is not clear that even an act of Congress mandating a vaccine would be constitutional." The ruling comes as several cities and states have already imposed their own vaccine mandates for healthcare workers. Some large hospital chains have also introduced requirements for staff vaccinations.
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