A federal judge Tuesday blocked President Joe Biden's vaccine mandate for healthcare workers.
Fourteen states sued the federal government over the mandate: Arizona, Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah and West Virginia.
The court's ruling covers all states that weren't included in a previous injunction.
"Although this Court considered limiting the injunction to the fourteen Plaintiff States, there are unvaccinated healthcare workers in other states who also need protection. Therefore, the scope of this injunction will be nationwide, except for the states of
Alaska, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, New Hampshire, Nebraska, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, since these ten states are already under a preliminary injunction order dated November 29, 2021, out of the Eastern District of Missouri," the ruling states.
“I applaud Judge Doughty for recognizing that Louisiana is likely to succeed on the merits and for delivering yet another victory for the medical freedom of Americans," Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry said.
"In response to our lawsuit, a federal court has temporarily stopped the vaccine mandate for healthcare workers nationwide," Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr said in a tweet. "This decision reaffirms that Biden’s mandate is unconstitutional and we will continue to fight to protect the rights of Georgia’s citizens."
District Court Judge Terry Doughtry ordered that the temporary injunction will be in place until further orders from his court or higher courts.
"It is important to preserve the status quo in this case," the ruling states. "The liberty interests of the unvaccinated requires nothing less."
While the federal government cannot currently mandate vaccines for healthcare workers, private companies can apply their own mandate; on Monday Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer rejected a request from a Massachusetts hospital system to block the system's vaccine mandate. It was the latest in many denials to similar requests by the Court.
The full ruling issued today is below:
