Federal Judge Temporarily Halts Biden's Vaccine Mandate For Healthcare Workers In 10 States

On Monday, a federal judge issued a temporary injunction on the Biden administration's COVID vaccine mandate for healthcare workers, citing multiple reasons.

U.S. District Judge Matthew Schelp argued that the COVID vaccine mandate would cause staffing shortages without evidence proving that the mandate would prevent the spread of COVID.

"The scale falls clearly in favor of healthcare facilities operating with some unvaccinated employees, staff, trainees, students, volunteers and contractors, rather than the swift, irremediable impact of requiring healthcare facilities to choose between two undesirable choices - providing substandard care or providing no healthcare at all," Judge Schelp, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump, wrote in the decision, as reported by The Hill.

States that are affected by this decision include Alaska, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming.

Judge Schelp's ruling provided a temporary win, while the case proceeds, to healthcare workers who oppose the COVID vaccine mandate and who receive Medicaid or Medicaid funding in the 10 states. A lawsuit was filed in the federal court merely days after an agency of the Department of Health and Human Services established their COVID vaccine mandate. The coalition of states argued that the COVID vaccine mandate "encroaches on states' rights and exceeds the agency's authority, and that its enactment failed to follow proper procedures."

According to CBN News, the vaccine mandate impacts up to 17 million workers nationwide in around 76,000 healthcare facilities that receive funding from government health programs Medicare and Medicaid. Healthcare workers were given until December 6 to get at least the first dose of the COVID vaccine.

CNN reported that Judge Schelp underscored the uncertainty of the vaccine's ability to prevent "disease transmission by those vaccinated." Moreover, he highlighted government overreach, arguing that the federal government was not given the authority to require COVID vaccines across the states. Judge Schelp described the COVID vaccine mandate as "politically and economically vast, federalism-altering, and boundary-pushing."

Judge Schelp wrote in his order that the HHS' Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services or CMS "seeks to overtake an area of traditional state authority by imposing an unprecedented demand to federally dictate the private medical decisions of millions of Americans. Such action challenges traditional notions of federalism."

The states that filed the lawsuit were represented by Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt, who said the ruling "pushes back on the overreach of power" by the Biden administration and those who are "using the coronavirus as a tool" to control Americans.

Meanwhile, the COVID vaccine mandate for the private sector was also temporarily halted by a three-judge panel. The Biden administration's COVID vaccine mandate for the private sector required businesses with at least 100 employees to require their staff to get vaccinated or be subjected to weekly COVID testing. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued an emergency temporary standard, which enforced the COVID vaccine mandate effective on January 4 if it had not been halted by the three-judge panel.