Vaccine Mandates Face New Lawsuits, Local Pushback
Health workers in Detroit and Maine filed legal challenges to employee vaccine requirements. State leaders in Arizona and Oregon are also at odds with measures enacted by city governments.
Axios:
Detroit Hospital System Sued Over COVID Vaccine Mandate
About 50 Detroit health care workers have filed a lawsuit against a hospital system, claiming its upcoming COVID-19 vaccine mandate violates the Fourteenth Amendment's protection of "personal autonomy and bodily integrity." This is the second major legal test concerning vaccine mandates in the health care sector, after an unsuccessful lawsuit claiming a Texas hospital's policy requiring all staff be vaccinated against the virus was unlawful. (Falconer, 9/8)
Arizona Republic:
Arizona Attorney General Brnovich Calls Tucson Vaccine Mandate Illegal
Tucson cannot force its employees to get a COVID-19 vaccine and the city puts millions of dollars of state revenue at risk if it continues to enforce a mandate handed down by the City Council last month, Attorney General Mark Brnovich said Tuesday. “Tucson’s vaccine mandate is illegal and the city could be held liable for attempting to force government employees to take it against their beliefs,” Brnovich said in a released statement. ... If the city does not rescind or amend the policy within 30 days, it could lose state revenue dollars, Brnovich's office said. (Stern
and Barchenger, 9/7)
Bangor Daily News:
Newly Formed Coalition Sues Maine Over COVID Vaccine Mandate For Health Care Workers
A coalition formed to oppose Maine’s vaccine requirement for health care workers has filed a lawsuit against the state’s top health officials to stop the policy before it takes effect next month. The lawsuit from the Alliance Against Health Care Mandates, which announced its formation in late August, is the second legal challenge to the mandate to be filed in as many weeks. The group filed the lawsuit in Kennebec County Superior Court in Augusta on Thursday, arguing that the rule violated state and federal law as well as the U.S. Constitution. The suit names Maine Department of Health and Human Services Commissioner Jeanne Lambrew and Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention Director Nirav Shah as defendants. (Marino Jr., 9/7)
AP:
Police May Be Exempt From Employee Vaccine Mandate
Portland city officials because of new guidance may need to exempt the police bureau from an order that all employees be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or risk losing their jobs. The city attorney’s office said Tuesday the order requiring police to be vaccinated is now legally dubious because of new guidance from the Oregon Health Authority, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported. (9/8)
In other news —
Axios:
Vermont State Troopers Resign Amid Fake COVID-19 Vaccine Card Probe
Three Vermont State Troopers have resigned following an investigation into an alleged fraudulent COVID-19 vaccination card scheme, the Vermont State Police said in a statement on Tuesday. The former troopers are suspected of creating fake COVID-19 vaccination cards, per the statement. The case has been referred to the U.S. Attorney Office in Vermont and the FBI, which has opened an investigation into the matter. (Garfinkel, 9/7)
Reuters:
Bristol-Myers To Require U.S., Puerto Rico Staff To Be Vaccinated
Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. will require all its employees working in the United States and Puerto Rico to be fully vaccinated against the coronavirus effective Nov. 1, the drugmaker said on Tuesday. In the face of a resurgence in COVID-19 cases, spurred by the highly contagious Delta coronavirus variant, many U.S. companies have come out with mask mandates and changed their vaccination policies. (9/7)
Los Angeles Times:
L.A. Unified Board Leaning Toward COVID Vaccine Mandate
A clear majority of Los Angeles Board of Education members either favor or lean toward requiring eligible students to be vaccinated against COVID-19, as education officials across the state grapple with a measure that could help prevent school infections and keep classrooms open, but would probably ignite pushback. School board President Kelly Gonez said that such a mandate would be a wise step to take “within a reasonable timeline.” Although the board could make a student vaccine mandate decision relatively soon, its effective date would depend on many factors, including allowing time for education efforts and outreach to families, she said. (Blume and Newberry, 9/8)
The Washington Post:
Jim Jordan Says Vaccine Mandates Are Un-American. George Washington Thought Otherwise, Critics Say.
At a time when the delta variant’s summer surge has renewed the nation’s divisions over coronavirus vaccines, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) on Monday said mandates enforcing vaccination do not reflect what it means to be American. “Vaccine mandates are un-American,” Jordan tweeted. But critics panned Jordan’s Labor Day message as being off — way off — by nearly 2½ centuries. George Washington, the commander in chief of the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War, made the bold decision in 1777 to require that his troops be immunized after a smallpox outbreak devastated the nation. (Bella, 9/7)
The Atlantic:
Why The ACLU Flip-Flopped On Vaccine Mandates
Why is a historically libertarian organization backing strict public-health measures? (Berman, 9/8)
