JEFFERSON CITY, MO - A federal judge blocked President Joe Biden’s administration from enforcing a coronavirus vaccine mandate on thousands of health care workers in Nebraska and nine other states that had brought the first legal challenge against the requirement.
No clear authority from Congress was established when federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid enacted the vaccine mandate for providers participating in the two government health care programs for the elderly, disabled, and poor.
The court order applies just to the 10 state coalition of Nebraska, Iowa, Alaska, Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming.
Similar lawsuits are also pending in other states.
Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson emphasized the significance for Nebraska health care workers and particularly those who work in rural hospitals.
"Today’s ruling immediately prevents enforcement of the mandate. While we do anticipate the federal government will seek immediate review by the Eighth Circuit, we are confident that the analysis by the trial court will be confirmed,” Peterson said.
The federal rule requires COVID-19 vaccinations for more than 17 million workers nationwide in about 76,000 health care facilities and home health care providers that get funding from the government health programs. Workers are to receive their first dose by Dec. 6 and their second shot by Jan. 4
The Biden administration argues that federal rules take precedence over state policies prohibiting vaccine mandates, and that vaccine mandates are essential to slowing the pandemic.
“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," U.S. District Judge Matthew Schelp wrote in his order.
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