|
By Jeremy Pelzer, cleveland.com
COLUMBUS, Ohio—Federal judges on Tuesday issued a preliminary injunction temporarily halting the Biden administration’s coronavirus vaccine mandate for healthcare workers and employees of federal contractors in Ohio and a number of other states.
U.S. District Court Judge Terry Doughty, of the Western District of Louisiana, issued an order holding up President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate for healthcare workers in Ohio and 39 other states where the mandate wasn’t already blocked by a separate court injunction released Monday.
Meanwhile, U.S. District Court Judge Gregory F. Van Tatenhove of the Eastern District of Kentucky, in his order, found that President Joe Biden exceeded his authority by issuing the vaccine mandate for federal contractors in Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee.
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, a Columbus Republican, had his state join both lawsuits. The sheriffs of Geauga and Seneca counties, as well as the states of Kentucky and Tennessee, were also plaintiffs in the suit contesting the vaccine mandate for federal contractors.
Doughty’s order holds up, for now, a new federal rule that requires about 17 million staffers at health-care facilities that participate in the Medicare and Medicaid programs to be fully vaccinated by Jan. 4 unless they have a medical or religious exemption. Doughty was appointed to the federal bench by former President Donald Trump and was unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate.
Under the mandate, healthcare facilities that have unvaccinated employees after that date could face financial penalties, be denied payments, or even be terminated from the Medicare and Medicaid programs, according to the White House.
Besides Ohio, 13 other states with Republican attorneys general are plaintiffs in the lawsuit challenging the healthcare worker vaccine mandate.
Van Tatenhove, appointed by Republican President George W. Bush and confirmed by a Senate voice vote, wrote in his order that vaccines are effective and that the government “at some level, and in some circumstances, can require citizens to obtain vaccines.” But, he continued, “in all likelihood,” Biden can’t rely on his congressionally delegated powers to require employees of federal contractors to be vaccinated.
| 
