Court halts enforcement of healthcare vaccine mandate

Posted December 1, 2021

On November 30, a Louisiana District Court halted the enforcement of the federal healthcare vaccine mandate nationwide, pending a trial on the merits of the case or until further order from the Court. The mandate requires workers in healthcare facilities to be vaccinated against COVID-19 and to have received at least a first dose of the vaccine prior to December 6 and a second dose by January 4, 2022.

On November 29, a Missouri District Court halted the enforcement of the federal healthcare vaccine mandate in ten states - Missouri, Nebraska, Arkansas, Kansas, Iowa, Wyoming, Alaska, South Dakota, North Dakota, and New Hampshire – which had earlier filed a complaint challenging the mandate.

In both cases, the plaintiffs sought to halt the mandate’s enforcement pending a full judicial review of its legality, arguing that Congress did not provide the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) the authority to enact the regulation.

This article was written by Rachel Krubsack of J. J. Keller & Associates, Inc.