On Monday, November 29, 2021, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri issued a preliminary injunction prohibiting the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) from enforcing its COVID-19 vaccine mandate on covered health care organizations. Specifically, the court ruled that CMS is not to implement or enforce its vaccine mandate “pending a trial on the merits of [the lawsuit] or until further order” of the court. The court made it clear that the preliminary injunction only applies to health care organizations covered by the CMS vaccine mandate in states that are a party to that lawsuit. Those states include Alaska, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming.
Other lawsuits challenging the CMS COVID-19 vaccine mandate are pending, including a lawsuit filed by 12 states in federal court in the Western District of Louisiana Monroe Division. Whether other courts also enjoin CMS from enforcing its vaccine mandate pending trial remains to be seen. It is also unknown at this time whether CMS will decide on its own to suspend implementation and enforcement of the vaccine mandate nationwide pending the outcome of litigation. The Occupational Health and Safety Administration (“OSHA”) suspended its vaccine mandate on November 16, 2021, after the United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a “stay order” suspending enforcement of the OSHA vaccine mandate.
Health care organizations should work closely with legal counsel as they continue to navigate through these quickly evolving developments and try to understand what impact they have on their own COVID-19 vaccination programs and policies.
If you have any questions or would like additional information on this topic, please contact your primary Hall Render contact.
Hall Render blog posts and articles are intended for informational purposes only. For ethical reasons, Hall Render attorneys cannot—outside of an attorney-client relationship—answer an individual’s questions that may constitute legal advice.
Article authored by Kevin Stella.
