Judge halts Biden admin COVID-19 vaccine mandate for health workers A federal judge in Missouri on Monday temporarily blocked the Biden administration’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for health care workers in 10 states.
U.S. District Judge Matthew Schelp granted a preliminary injunction barring the administration from enforcing the mandate while litigation continues in the case filed by a coalition of 10 state attorneys general.
Judge Schelp, a Trump appointee, ruled that the administration did not have the authority to issue the mandate requiring health care workers employed by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to be vaccinated by Jan. 4.
“Congress did not clearly authorize CMS to enact this politically and economically vast, federalism-altering, and boundary-pushing mandate, which Supreme Court precedent requires,” Judge Schelp wrote.
The judge also said the administration did not provide evidence as to why Mr. Biden’s Sept. 9 executive order for the mandate was necessary.
“The evidence does not show a rational connection to support implementing the vaccine mandate, the mandate’s broad scope, the unreasonable rejection of alternatives to vaccination, CMS’s inadequate explanation for its change in course, and its failure to consider or properly weigh reliance interests,” the 32-page ruling states.
The mandate is paused in Alaska, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming.................
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2021/nov/29/judge-halts-biden-admin-covid-19-vaccine-mandate-h/
