Several attorneys general asking federal judge to block healthcare worker vaccine mandate

HELENA, Mont. - Several attorneys general are asking a federal judge to block a mandate requiring healthcare workers to be vaccinated against COVID-19.

The mandate would require workers at facilities receiving Medicare or Medicaid funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to have received a first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine or have a pending approved application for exemption.

Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen is joining 15 other attorneys general in seeking to block the mandate before the Feb. 14 deadline.

“President Biden’s scheme to federalize COVID-19 vaccination policy and force it on Americans who have chosen not to get the vaccine has hit the skids. Four separate mandates have either been struck down or are currently blocked by federal courts,” Attorney General Knudsen said.

Knudsen went on to say that the only mandate that is left is the mandate for healthcare workers and that rural healthcare systems can’t afford to lose them.

“By forcing healthcare workers to choose between their jobs or an experimental vaccine they do not want, CMS is affirmatively pinching an already strained work-force—and particularly so in rural areas within [Montana],” the lawsuit reads.

You can read the full amended complaint here.