U.S. District Judge M. Casey Rodgers upheld her decision on Thursday to reject Florida’s injunction request against the Biden administration ruling that would mandate health workers to receive COVID-19 vaccinations.
Rodgers issued an order stating that despite consideration, Florida’s new law banning vaccine mandates did not change her mind about denying the state’s request for a preliminary injunction.
Rodgers wrote in her Thursday order that the presiding body over the vaccine mandate “is not usurping the state’s police power to broadly regulate for the common good but instead has implemented a health precaution for the effective and efficient administration of the federal health care programs it is entrusted with administering.”
The state of Florida initially filed an injunction — a judicial order that prevents a measure from taking action under the pretense that it invades a person’s rights — against the mandate that was denied by Rodgers on Nov. 20th.
Rodgers did not grant the state the emergency injunction that it sought, but stated that she would reconsider the state’s request following the results of Governor Ron DeSantis’ recent special legislative session, where lawmakers signed off on a bevy of bills that thwarted statewide mandates of vaccines and masks in schools and workplaces.
“In light of this law, sovereign interests are implicated, most notably a concern that the new state law creates a conflict that forces state-run agency and facility heads to make a decision by December 6 as to which law to follow, which could give rise to an irreparable sovereign injury,” Rodgers wrote on Nov. 20th. “Therefore, the court will hold a hearing on the matter in advance of December 6, out of an abundance of caution.”
The federal vaccine rule will require hospitals, nursing homes and other likewise providers that participate in Medicare and Medicaid programs to necessitate workers to receive at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine by Dec. 6 and receive a second dose by Jan. 4, with limited exemptions for medical and religious reasons.
Florida was the 11th state to file a legal challenge against the health care vaccination requirement, joining Missouri, Nebraska, Arkansas, Kansas, Iowa, Wyoming, Alaska, South Dakota, North Dakota and New Hampshire.