A federal judge in Louisiana issued a nationwide preliminary injunction Tuesday, freezing the start of President Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for health care workers across the country.
Judge Terry Doughty of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana issued the decision — which affects more than 10.3 million health care workers in the United States — just a few weeks after a group of 14 states filed a federal lawsuit in Louisiana against the mandate.
“There is no question that mandating a vaccine to 10.3 million healthcare workers is something that should be done by Congress, not a government agency,” Doughty wrote. “It is not clear that even an Act of Congress mandating a vaccine would be constitutional.”
According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), 2.4 million health care workers are currently unvaccinated, the ruling states.
Mandate guidance issued by CMS stipulates health care workers in any setting that receives Medicaid and Medicare reimbursement, including nursing homes, must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by Jan. 4 — the deadline for the first dose of the two-dose Moderna and Pfizer vaccines was set for next week.
Doughty admitted that the matter would likely be decided by a higher court than his, though “it is important to preserve the status quo in this case.”
The lawsuit claims the government did not go through the “notice and comment” process that is required; the mandate exceeds the government’s authority; that the mandate is “arbitrary and capricious”; and it is contrary to law — specifically that it violates certain provisions in the Social Security Act, among other legal issues.
The scope of the injunction, Doughty notes, is nationwide except for Alaska, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, New Hampshire, Nebraska, Wyoming, North Dakota and South Dakota, since these 10 states are already under a preliminary injunction from a different federal judge.
On Monday a federal judge in Missouri issued a ruling blocking the mandate as part of a separate lawsuit involving those 10 states.
Both rulings are likely to be appealed as previously indicated by the Biden administration. Should either ruling be appealed, the issue would be heard by federal appeals courts.
The decisions differs from a similar lawsuit filed in Florida. Last week Judge M. Casey Rodgers said she would not temporarily pause the mandate while the case was being litigated.
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