Attorney General Steve Marshall on Monday filed a lawsuit to block President Joe Biden’s mandate requiring health care workers to become vaccinated against COVID-19.
The Biden administration issued the mandate on November 4 through the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).
“In September, the Biden administration abandoned persuasion for brute force and announced an unprecedented series of federal mandates aimed at compelling most of the adult population of the United States to get a COVID-19 vaccine,” proclaimed Marshall.
He added, “Federal contractor employees, followed by all businesses with 100 or more employees, were singled out by Biden’s heavy-handed vaccine edict. Not satisfied with stalling the national economy, on November 4, Biden doubled down and expanded his vaccine mandate to cover most Medicare- and Medicaid-certified providers, placing almost all of the nation’s healthcare workers in its crosshairs.”
The attorney general’s office advised that, unlike the private employer Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) decree, the CMS mandate does not allow a health care provider to offer weekly testing to their workforce in place of vaccination. Marshall earlier this month filed suit to block the OSHA mandate.
“One can only imagine the damage that will be done by this mandate to already short-staffed rural and community hospitals, clinics and nursing homes that receive federal funds for Medicare and Medicaid services,” continued Marshall. “They are effectively being held hostage by Biden to either force vaccination compliance by January 4, 2022, or fire vitally-needed doctors, nurses and other medical staff.”
Alongside filing suit to block the mandate from going into effect, the state of Alabama is also seeking a preliminary injunction.
Last month, the state of Alabama announced a lawsuit to prohibit the enforcement of the administration’s federal contractor vaccine mandate. Additionally, Marshall filed for preliminary relief against the edict on November 5.
Marshall concluded, “Each of these mandates has distinct and severe legal deficiencies that warrant distinct and severe responses from the states. This is about so much more than vaccines. It’s about planting a flag to say that ‘enough is enough.’ The federal government’s power is not boundless, but if we are not vigilant to fight here and now, there will be no going back.”
The Alabama Department of Public Health, the Alabama Department of Rehabilitation Services, the Alabama Department of Mental Health, and the Alabama Medicaid Agency assisted the attorney general’s office in preparing for the litigation.
Marshall joined attorneys general from Louisiana, Montana, Arizona, Georgia, Indiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah and West Virginia in taking legal action against the Biden administration.
Dylan Smith is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @DylanSmithAL
