What you should know
- A federal judge temporarily blocked New York State from forcing medical workers to get vaccinated after a group of healthcare workers sued, saying their constitutional rights were violated because the state’s mandate did not allow exemptions. religious.
- Seventeen healthcare professionals, including doctors and nurses, claimed in a lawsuit Monday that their rights were violated with a vaccine mandate that did not allow for exemptions.
- The state issued the order on August 28, requiring at least a first injection for healthcare workers in hospitals and nursing homes by September 27.
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NEW YORK – A federal judge temporarily blocked New York State from forcing medical workers to get vaccinated after a group of them filed a lawsuit.
Seventeen health professionals, including doctors and nurses, claimed that their constitutional rights were violated because the state mandate did not allow religious exemptions.
The state issued the order on Aug. 28, requiring at least a first injection for healthcare workers in hospitals and nursing homes by Sept. 27, the same day that New York City education employees are required to do the same.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul scheduled a COVID briefing for Wednesday morning, a day after a federal judge temporarily blocked the state mandate for vaccinations for medical workers. More than a dozen professionals had filed a lawsuit alleging that their constitutional rights were violated because religious exemptions are not allowed.
The state issued the order on Aug. 28, requiring at least a first injection for healthcare workers in hospitals and nursing homes by Sept. 27, the same day that New York City education employees are required to do the same by mandate of the mayor’s office.
Regarding his tenure, Mayor Bill de Blasio said that “there will be no delays in the implementation of this vaccine requirement by the city.”
In issuing the court order, Judge David Hurd in Utica gave New York state until September 22 to respond to the lawsuit, which was filed by 17 medical professionals, including doctors and nurses, earlier this week. If the state objects to the plaintiffs’ request for a preliminary injunction blocking the mandate, an oral hearing will be held on September 28.
Hazel Crampton-Hays, press secretary to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, said in a statement Tuesday that the state was considering all legal options.
“Governor Hochul is doing everything in her power to protect New Yorkers and combat the Delta variant by increasing vaccination rates statewide. Demanding vaccination of healthcare workers is critical to this battle, ”Crampton-Hays said.
Messages seeking comment were also sent to the Thomas More Society attorneys who filed the lawsuit.
Dr. Joseph R. Sellers, president of the New York State Medical Society, said in a statement that the nonprofit organization for doctors, residents and medical students was “very shocked by today’s decision.”
“We believe this step will result in a series of attempts to circumvent the well-reasoned vaccination requirement that was an important step in reversing the recent increase attributable to the more easily spread delta variant,” Sellers said. “No major religious denomination opposes vaccines, and the Supreme Court has upheld vaccination requirements as a means of protecting public health for more than 100 years.”
In their lawsuit, the health care plaintiffs disguised their identities with pseudonyms such as “Dr. A. “,” Nurse A. “and” Liaison Doctor X. “They said they wanted to proceed anonymously because” they run the risk of being ostracized, threats of harm, immediate dismissal and other consequences of retaliation if their Names”.
They cited violations of the U.S. Constitution, along with New York State Human Rights Law and New York City Human Rights Law, because the state Department of Health regulation that requires workers to be vaccinated does not provides exemptions for “sincere religious beliefs that require a refusal of such vaccination.”
Court documents said that all available COVID vaccines employ aborted fetus cell lines in their testing, development or production. But religious leaders have disagreed on the issue and the Vatican issued a statement last year saying the vaccines were “morally acceptable.”
The plaintiffs, all Christians, include practicing physicians, nurses, a nuclear medicine technologist, a cognitive rehabilitation therapist and a medical liaison who oppose any medical cooperation in abortion on religious grounds, according to the lawsuit.
He added that they are not “anti-vaccines” that are opposed to all vaccines.
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