UPDATE: CMS Vaccine mandate & Federal vaccine mandate for employees and contractors

November 17, 2021

I’ve been reporting on the osha vaccine or testing rule for workers at companies with more than 100 employees but what about the other mandates – like the CMS mandate and the mandate for all federal workers and contractors.

I’m going to give you the latest on those two and a quick little update on the OSHA rule since the multi-circuit lottery yesterday. Let me just say there are so many lawsuits, with so many different complaints, from so many states, in so many separate courts. There’s no way to discuss every single one in one video.

Also understand…none of this is done. It’s not over until all the appeals are exhausted from both sides and the courts have ruled on all of these separate mandates. It’s possible these cases will make it to the supreme court – but you have to understand the high court does *not* take every appellate case its presented. The justices may take one of these –if it gets there – but then again they may not. We just have to wait and see.

With that said… let’s talk about where we stand with the CMS vaccine mandate for all healthcare facilities and workers who get funding from either Medicare or Medicaid. I explained how it works in this video last week. That mandate imposed by the centers for Medicare and Medicaid is being challenged by dozens of states in separate federal courts. The centers for Medicare and Medicaid continue to say they absolutely have the authority to move forward with this policy. Obviously time is ticking because the mandate says workers who fall into this category must have their first dose no later than December 6^th.  At this time – there is no pause, stay or injunction on the mandate – it’s still moving forward. But we’ll have to see how the courts rule and if the losing party decides to appeal.

Second – let’s talk about the federal workers and contractors vaccine mandate. I described how that works in this video as well. But it *too* is facing several legal challenges. Unions, federal workers and federal contractors have filed several suits. So far judges hearing two separate cases have denied the federal workers initial request for a preliminary injunction to stop this order. That means as of right now – it’s also still moving forward. Again…that doesn’t mean it’s over. The cases are still going through the court system and just like the CMS mandate, time is of the essence as the vaccination deadline is getting closer.

Lastly – I reported yesterday in this video that the 6^th circuit court of appeals was selected to hear all the cases challenging the osha vaccine and testing rule. Since then, osha put out a statement saying that they would “take no steps to implement or enforce” the rule while this legal process plays out in the 6^th circuit. First, the enforcement of the rule was never going to happen before January 4^th. Second… this statement does *not* mean OSHA is “giving up” in fact, osha also said in the statement that it “remains confident in its authority to protect workers in emergencies.” So like the other two vaccine mandates, we’re going to have to see what the courts say.  

Read the OSHA statement here.