CMS Suspends COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate for Health Care Workers

On Dec. 2, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) suspended implementation and enforcement of its COVID-19 vaccine mandate for health care workers. CMS communicated the suspension via a memorandum to its State Survey Agency Directors who would be responsible for enforcing the mandate. The suspension will be in effect pending further litigation, more specifically while the injunctions are in effect.

Last week, Federal District Court Judge Terry A. Doughty of the Western District of Louisiana issued a nationwide preliminary injunction, halting implementation of the CMS COVID-19 vaccine mandate, which would have gone into effect this week. The mandate requires all health care workers who work at facilities or offices that participate in the Medicaid and/or Medicare programs to receive at least their first shot by Dec. 6 and to be fully vaccinated by Jan. 4. The mandate allows exemptions based on religious beliefs or recognized medical conditions.

When issuing the preliminary injunction order, Judge Doughty expressed his opinion that mandating vaccines should be done by Congress and not by CMS. He also questioned whether even Congress can mandate vaccination because it may be unconstitutional for Congress to do so.

On Nov. 29, one day prior to Judge Doughty’s order, a federal district court judge in Missouri issued a preliminary junction against the CMS vaccine rule. The Missouri preliminary injunction applied only to the 10 states that had filed lawsuits in that court, however, Doughty’s preliminary injunction is effectively a nationwide expansion of the Missouri preliminary injunction.

Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra requested a stay on the preliminary injunctions in both Missouri and the Western Louisiana federal district courts, but his requests were denied. On Dec. 1, Becerra appealed both injunction orders.