Attorney General John O’Connor and Governor Kevin Stitt celebrated a win on Tuesday.

A federal judge in Louisiana blocked a federal COVID-19 vaccine mandate for healthcare workers and issued an injunction against it. The order follows a nearly identical ruling that happened the day before in a U.S. District Court in Missouri.

“This is a major win for the medical freedom of Oklahoma’s healthcare heroes who have fearlessly braved the pandemic to keep the rest of us healthy,” said Oklahoma Attorney General John O’Connor in a statement.

On November 15 ^th , O’Connor added Oklahoma’s name to a lawsuit eleven other states had filed.

The lawsuit asked the federal court to stop the Biden Administration from issuing the vaccine mandate for healthcare workers.

On November 4 ^th , the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services put a new rule into effect that would have required staff at providers that participate in the programs to receive at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine by December 6th.

The new regulation required staff to be fully vaccinated by January 4, 2022.

17 Million healthcare workers would have been affected.

“I am pleased that federal courts have blocked yet another one of President Biden’s unconstitutional vaccine mandates,” Governor Stitt said in a statement after the ruling. “I stand with Attorney General John O’Connor and the Legislature as we fight back to defend our individual liberties and want Oklahomans to know we will continue standing up to the Biden Administration’s excessive federal overreach.”

A few days ago the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued an Interim Final Rule (IFR) establishing the COVID-19 vaccination requirements for staff employed at Medicare and Medicaid certified providers and suppliers.

The IFR requires covered staff to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by January 4, 2022, or have received an approved religious or medical exemption or deferral by that date. Without an exemption granted, employees of hospitals were required to have their first dose of the vaccine by December 4 ^th or face possible termination.

In the preamble to the Interim Final Rule (IFR), Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) states that covered providers and suppliers must comply with federal anti-discrimination laws, including the Americans with Disabilities Act and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, and, therefore, may be required to give an exemption to the vaccination requirement as an accommodation under those laws.

The IFR provides, in part, that:

• Covered providers and suppliers must implement mandatory vaccination policies that include a process by which staff may request an exemption from the vaccination requirement for medical or religious reasons in accordance with applicable federal law. There is no “test out” option.

• There is no “test out” option.

• Only religious or medical exemptions are permitted, and any such requests must be submitted by Dec. 5.

• Covered staff (except for those who have pending requests for, or who have been granted, medical, or religious exemptions to the IFR vaccination requirements, or those for whom COVID-19 vaccination must be temporarily delayed, as recommended by the CDC, due to clinical precautions and considerations) must receive their first dose of a multi-dose COVID-19 vaccine series by Dec. 5 and all covered staff must be fully vaccinated by Jan. 4, 2022, or have received an approved religious or medical exemption. Employees who received their final vaccine dose but are not yet 14 days post-vaccination by Jan. 4, 2022, will be considered compliant.

• Covered providers and suppliers must track and securely document the vaccination status of each staff member, including those for whom there was a temporary delay in vaccination.

• Covered providers and suppliers must implement a process for ensuring additional precautions intended to prevent the transmission and spread of COVID-19 for all staff who are not fully vaccinated for COVID-19.

CMS had issued interpretative guidelines, including survey procedures, to govern enforcement. Depending on the level of noncompliance, covered providers and suppliers may face civil money penalties, and suppliers may face civil money penalties, denial of payment for new admissions, or termination of the Medicare/Medicaid provider agreement.

Aa federal court recently halted President Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for health care workers in ten states.

“The scale falls clearly in favor of healthcare facilities operating with some unvaccinated employees, staff, trainees, students, volunteers and contractors, rather than the swift, irremediable impact of requiring healthcare facilities to choose between two undesirable choices — providing substandard care or providing no healthcare at all,” wrote U.S. District Judge Matthew Schelp in a 32- page order Monday.

The ten states impacted by the ruling are those that sued the Biden administration over the rule: Alaska, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming.

Biden’s Nov. 5 order applied to health workers in hospitals that receive federal funding through Medicaid or Medicare, with Biden arguing that the rule was needed to help slow the spread of COVID-19 among the nation’s health care workers.

But Schelp ruled the order likely exceeded Biden’s authority, giving the ten states a temporary victory as the case continues to wind its way through the system.

“Congress did not clearly authorize CMS to enact this politically and economically vast, federalism-altering, and boundary-pushing mandate, which Supreme Court precedent requires,” Schelp wrote.

The ten states sued the administration shortly after the order was issued, arguing it encroached on states’ rights and would worsen health care worker shortages.

The ruling comes days after OSHA announced that it was suspending its enforcement of Biden’s vaccine mandate for private employers with more than 100 employees after it too was blocked by a federal court, which ruled the agency should “take no steps to implement or enforce” the regulation.

“OSHA is complying with the 5th Circuit’s stay,” a Department of Labor official said. “OSHA is not enforcing or implementing the [regulation] — so they are not engaging or offering compliance assistance.”

Oklahoma along with 11 other states also filed suit against Biden and the Federal Government to stop the “job or jab” and a federal judge has ruled in favor of Oklahoma.

(information provided in part by KOKH Colleen Wilson - Oklahoma City)

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