The Biden administration suffered a double reverse in the fight against COVID-19 as a district court in Louisiana blocked COVID mandates in 2 sectors affecting millions of workers. Terry Doughty of the US district court in Monroe blocked the CMS from enforcing any vaccine mandate for healthcare workers till the court could resolve legal challenges.
The ruling by Judge Doughty applies across the nation except in 10 states where the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Service has already been stopped from enforcing the COVID mandates by a St. Louis federal judge.
Doughty said that the CMS did not possess the authority necessary for COVID Mandates. The COVID mandates would require that around 2 million health workers who are yet to get their vaccine shots be vaccinated.
Doughty ruled that COVID mandates for 10.3 million workers in the healthcare sectors has to be passed by Congress and the CMS does not have the authority to pass such an order.
COVID Mandates For Government Contractors Also Blocked By Court
Judge Gregory Tatenhove of the US District Court in Kentucky also blocked COVID mandates for new government contracts that required the inclusion of clauses that made COVID mandates compulsory for employees.
The ruling for government contractors applies in the three states that filed that lawsuit; Ohio, Tennessee, and Kentucky. It is the first ruling against the mandates for government contract workers.
The White House has not commented on the development. The legal setback comes as a matter of further concern for the Biden administration even as the Omicron variant of the coronavirus could trigger a fresh wave of cases and again affect travel and economic activity across the world.
The Biden administration unveiled regulations in September to boost the rate of vaccination in America beyond 71% at present. The virus has killed over 750,000 Americans and has severely affected the economy.
Earlier the mandates for companies employing 100 workers or more were blocked by an appeals court in early November.
