New York Judge Blocks Vaccine Mandate For Healthcare Workers

A New York federal judge temporarily blocked the state’s vaccine mandate for healthcare workers after medical employees sued the state Monday.

U.S. District Judge David Hurd issued an order that temporarily blocks the New York State Department of Health from enforcing a regulation mandating a COVID-19 vaccine after 17 employees claimed the mandate, which excluded religious exemptions, violated their constitutional rights, according to court documents.

The mandate was scheduled to go into effect on Sept. 27 and Hurd slated a preliminary injunction on Sept. 22, according to the court documents.

“Governor Hochul is doing everything in her power to protect New Yorkers and combat the Delta variant by increasing vaccine rates across the state. Requiring vaccination of health care workers is critical to this battle,” Hazel Crampton-Hays, press secretary to Gov. Kathy Hochul, said in a statement obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Campton-Hayes added that the governor is prepared to consider all legal options to “keep our communities safe.”

Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued the vaccination mandate for health care workers on Aug. 16, Reuters reported. At the time, roughly 75% of the state’s 450,000 medical workers were fully vaccinated.

The lawsuit said that the plaintiffs, who are all Christians, argue that all available vaccines use aborted fetus cells in their testing, development and production, according to the court documents.

The plaintiffs wanted to proceed anonymously because they “run the risk of ostracization, threats of harm, immediate firing and other retaliatory consequences if their names become known,” according to the complaint.