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COVID-19 vaccine rule blocked in 10 states including Missouri and Kansas

November 2021

A St. Louis federal judge has blocked a COVID-19 vaccine mandate from the Biden administration for healthcare workers in 10 states. The ruling prevents the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services from requiring workers to take the vaccine until the court can hear arguments from each state.

On Monday, Nov. 29, a federal judge blocked a COVID-19 vaccine mandate on healthcare workers from the Biden administration. The judge’s ruling exempts health workers from receiving the vaccine in 10 states including Missouri and Kansas.

The ruling was made by U.S. District Judge Matthew Schelp in St. Louis. Schelp’s decision prevents the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) from enforcing its vaccine mandate for healthcare workers until the court can hear legal challenges brought by the 10 states.

States included in the exemption include Missouri, Nebraska, Arkansas, Kansas, Iowa, Wyoming, Alaska, South Dakota, North Dakota and New Hampshire.

The ruling is the second legal setback for the Biden Administration’s requirements aimed at increasing the use of vaccines to halt the COVID-19 pandemic. A federal appeals court in New Orleans earlier this month blocked a sweeping workplace mandate that requires businesses with at least 100 employees to get their staff vaccinated or tested weekly.

Republican state attorneys general sued the administration in early November over the CMS rule, seeking to block the requirement because they alleged it would worsen healthcare staffing shortages. Schelp said CMS had significantly understated the burden of its mandate on the ability of healthcare facilities to provide proper care.