Federal Vaccine Mandate For Federal Health Care Workers Blocked By Louisiana Judge

Federal Health Care Vaccine Mandate Block Overview:

• Who: A Louisiana federal judge has blocked the Biden administration’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for health care workers.
• Why: The judge ruled that the federal government doesn’t have the authority to implement the mandate.
• Where: The order blocks the mandate nationwide.

A federal COVID-19 vaccine mandate that applies to government health care workers has been temporarily blocked by a Louisiana judge.

In an order and preliminary injunction filed Nov. 29, U.S. District Judge Terry A. Doughty said the federal government does not have the authority to implement the nationwide mandate.

The decision handed a win to a coalition of states that challenged the measure and comes just a day after a Missouri federal judge made a similar decision on the mandate.

The mandate had made vaccination mandatory for employees of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), of whom there are more than 10 million workers. Of those workers, 2.4 million are currently unvaccinated, the order says.

“There is no question that mandating a vaccine to 10.3 million health care workers is something that should be done by Congress, not a government agency,”  Judge Doughty said. “It is not clear that even an act of Congress mandating a vaccine would be constitutional. Certainly, CMS does not have this authority by a general authorization statute.”

The coalition of states are Montana, Arizona, Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah, West Virginia, Ohio and Kentucky. 

Failure to Comply With the Mandate May Have Resulted in ‘Termination of the Medicare/Medicaid Provider Agreement’

The mandate was meant to kick in Dec. 6. It required employees who work Medicare and Medicaid facilities—hospices, nursing homes, hospitals and more—to have at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose before then and to be fully vaccinated by Jan. 4, 2022.

Failure to comply with the CMS mandate may have resulted in penalties, including “termination of the Medicare/Medicaid Provider Agreement.”

Any appeals of Judge Doughty’s decision will go to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.

In September, a group of federal employees lodged a class action lawsuit against President Biden and the Secretary of the Department of Defense, saying Biden’s vaccine mandate violates the U.S. Constitution and their religious freedom. 

What do you think of the temporary block on the vaccine mandate? Let us know in the comments! 

Louisiana is represented by Elizabeth B. Murrill, J. Scott St. John, Morgan Brungard and Josiah Kollmeyer of the Louisiana Department of Justice and Jimmy R. Faircloth Jr. and Mary Katherine Price of Faircloth Melton Sobel & Bash LLC.

The Federal Vaccine Mandate Health Care Workers is Louisiana et al. v. Xavier Becerra et al., Case No. 3:21-cv-03970, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana.

Read About More Class Action Lawsuits & Class Action Settlements:

• American Airlines Federal Credit Union $1.5M Class Action Settlement
• Uber IPO Class Action Adds New Claimants Despite Company Protests
• Class Action Alleging Southwest Sold Tickets on Dangerously Faulty Boeing Planes Is Certified
• Southwest Endangered, Overcharged Passengers for Risky 737 Max Flights, Says Class Action