Policy & Value-Based Care

Federal Judge in Missouri Temporarily Blocks Vaccine Mandate

Nov. 30, 2021

According to an article in The Washington Post, U.S. District Judge Matthew T. Schelp has temporarily blocked the Biden administration vaccine mandate for healthcare workers in 10 states

Janette Wider

According to a Nov. 30 article from The Washington Post by Eli Rosenberg and Adela Suliman, a federal judge in Missouri has temporarily blocked the Biden administration vaccine mandate for healthcare workers in 10 states.

We reported on Nov. 10 that 10 state attorneys general sued the Biden administration over the CMS vaccine mandate that had been created through the issuance of an interim final rule, asserting federal overreach. The attorneys general of Missouri, Nebraska, Arkansas, Kansas, Iowa, Wyoming, Alaska, South Dakota, North Dakota, and New Hampshire jointly filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri in St. Louis.

“But in a 32-page ruling issued on Monday in St. Louis, U.S. District Judge Matthew T. Schelp, who was appointed by President Donald Trump, said that a preliminary injunction to halt the rule was warranted because he believed the arguments made by the plaintiffs—10 mostly Republican-dominated states—that the CMS lacked authority to implement the requirement, probably had merit,” the article states.

Further, “He also questioned whether there was enough data about transmissibility and vaccination status, and he said that he believed the order was probably ‘arbitrary and capricious.’”

The order will halt the CMS vaccine mandate in the 10 states that brought the lawsuit until the court can hear their legal challenges.

According to a Nov. 29 article from Reuters by Tom Hals, CMS said in a statement that it was reviewing the ruling and that unvaccinated healthcare staff pose a threat to patient safety.

Rosenberg and Suliman conclude that “As cases of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus continue to be detected globally, President Biden on Monday emphasized that vaccines were a key defense. ‘The best protection against this new variant or any of the variants out there, the ones we’ve been dealing with already, is getting fully vaccinated and getting a booster shot,’ Biden said in remarks from the Roosevelt Room.”