On Monday, a federal judge prevented the administration of President Joe Biden from enforcing the authorization of the coronavirus vaccine for thousands of healthcare workers in 10 states. These states presented the first legal challenge to this requirement.

The court order stated that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid were not expressly authorized by Congress to establish vaccine regulations for providers participating in two government health care programs for the elderly, the disabled, and the poor.

States sued for COVID-19 vaccine authorization against healthcare workers

The preliminary injunction of St. Louis-based U.S. District Judge Matthew Schelp applies to joint prosecution states, including Alaska, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota States and Wyoming. Similar lawsuits are pending in other states.

Federal regulations require approximately 76,000 health care institutions and home health care providers that receive funding from government health programs across the country to vaccinate more than 17 million workers against COVID-19. Workers will receive the first dose of vaccine before December 6th and the second dose of vaccine before January 4th.

CMS requires healthcare workers to be vaccinated against COVID before January 4

After the Biden administration suffered similar setbacks due to broader policies, the court issued an order against the authorization of medical vaccines. The Federal Court previously shelved a separate rule requiring companies with more than 100 employees to ensure that their employees are vaccinated or wear masks and are tested for coronavirus weekly.

The Biden administration argues that federal rules replace state policies that prohibit vaccination and are critical to slowing the pandemic.

But the judge in the healthcare provider’s case wrote that federal officials may have exceeded their legal powers.

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“CMS is trying to transcend the traditional realm of national authority through unprecedented requirements, and use the federal government to determine the private medical decisions of millions of Americans. This action challenges the traditional concept of federalism,” Xerop wrote in his order. .

Even with the extremely broad interpretation of federal powers, “Congress did not explicitly authorize CMS to establish this politically and economically broad mandate to change federalism and push boundaries,” Schelp wrote.