Where Does Halt On Vaccine Mandate For Certain Healthcare Workers Apply?

For hospitals that receive federal funding, a ruling at a federal court in Missouri on Monday halted the Biden administration’s Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) vaccine mandate for healthcare workers.

St. Louis-based U.S. District Judge Matthew Schelp’s ruling applies to the 10states that sued to block Biden’s Nov. 5 rule: Alaska, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming. Healthcare employees in these states working in hospitals that receive federal funding do not have to abide by the vaccine mandate, according to this ruling.

“Vaccine rates rise every day, and more therapeutics and treatments for the virus are available than ever before. The status quo today, without the [Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services] mandate, is still far better than the public faced even just a few months ago,” Schelp wrote in a 32-page order.

The ruling is temporary, however. The Department of Justice, arguing the case for the Biden administration, urges that vaccine mandates are necessary to stop the spread of COVID-19 among healthcare workers in hospitals, nursing homes, and other places.

The 10 states that sued argued that the mandate will make it harder to find workers, especially in rural areas, encroaches on states’ rights, and fail to follow proper procedures.

Schelp, who was nominated by former President Donald Trump, favored this opinion, writing that CMS does not have the authority to implement such policies and such practices would be detrimental to rural federal hospitals.

“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,” Schelp wrote.