Buck Ennis
Vaccine card
A federal judge on Tuesday granted a temporary restraining order against the state enforcing its vaccine mandate on healthcare workers.
The state Department of Health on Aug. 26 required all healthcare workers to have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine by Sept. 27, with no religious exemptions or options for testing.
David Hurd, a judge in the Northern District of New York, enjoined named defendants Gov. Kathy Hochul, state Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker and Attorney General Letitia James from preventing employers from providing religious exemptions.The state Health Department is also barred from interfering with entities granting such exemptions moving forward, Hurd said in the order.
The order would take effect Sept. 27, when the mandate deadline hits.
The plaintiffs—17 pseudonymous healthcare practitioners—filed a complaint alleging the mandate violated the First and Fourteenth Amendments, the Supremacy Clause and the Equal Protection Clause. They are represented by attorneys from the Thomas More Society, a Chicago-based law firm.
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Source link : https://www.modernhealthcare.com/legal/federal-judge-grants-temporary-restraining-order-ny-state-vaccine-mandate
