Employees Sue Houston Hospital Over Mandatory COVID Vaccination Policy, Judge Dismisses Lawsuit

On Saturday, Judge Lynn N. Hughes of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas dismissed a case filed by a nurse Jennifer Bridges and 116 other employees against Houston Methodist Hospital for its COVID vaccination policy that requires employees to get vaccinated on or before a certain date or risk losing their jobs. Last week, the Houston hospital suspended 178 workers for failing to meet the deadline for getting the COVID vaccine, leading more than a hundred of them to file a lawsuit against the hospital, as led by Bridges.

According to NPR, the Houston hospital health workers who were hesitant to get the vaccine decried the COVID vaccination policy because they believed that the vaccines were unsafe and "experimental." Bridges and 116 other plaintiffs are arguing that the Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson COVID vaccines are being administered only through an emergency use authorization and are in fact unapproved by the Food and Drug Administration.

"We just want more time," Bridges explained. "We want it fully FDA-approved, and we want more proper research before I'd be comfortable putting it into my body."

However, Judge Hughes dismissed their case that challenged the Houston hospital's mandatory COVID vaccination policy, NBC News reported. She addressed their argument about the vaccination requirement violating due process by writing in the decision, "Texas does not recognize this exception to at-will employment."

Judge Hughes addressed Bridges' argument that the mandatory COVID vaccination policy would force the employees to violate the law, saying that receiving COVID vaccinations is "not an illegal act." The Texas judge also decided against the employees' argument that they were being coerced by the Houston hospital.

"This is not coercion. Methodist is trying to do their business of saving lives without giving them the COVID-19 virus," Judge Hughes wrote. "It is a choice made to keep staff, patients and their families safer."

The Houston hospital is the first hospital system in the U.S. to require all of its employees to get vaccinated against COVID. Houston Methodist president and CEO Dr. Marc Boom decried Bridges' comparison of the mandatory COVID vaccination policy to forced medical experiments under the Nazis in Germany as "reprehensible." NPR reported that in a conversation with Here & Now, Boom called it an "anti-vaccination rhetoric, and unfortunately [it's] at play within a healthcare professional."

Bridges remains determined to fight for her right not to be vaccinated against COVID. According to USA Today, the nurse admitted that the decision did not "surprise" her because the Houston hospital system is "a very large company" and is "well-protected in a lot of areas." She admitted that their case would be a "huge fight" that they are prepared to take to the Supreme Court "if necessary," their lawyer, Jared Woodfill said.

"This is just one battle in a larger war to protect the rights of employees to be free from being forced to participate in a vaccine trial as a condition for employment," Woodfill said in a statement.