NY COVID vaccine mandate for health workers remains in effect after court issues stay

David Robinson, New York State Team
·2 min read
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A state appeals court issued a stay Monday that will keep New York's COVID-19 vaccine mandate for health workers in place during an ongoing court battle.

The stay temporarily halts enforcement of the ruling last month from state Supreme Court Judge Gerald Neri in Syracuse that declared the health worker vaccine mandate was null and void. Neri asserted in part that the mandate exceeded state health officials’ authority and usurped the Legislature’s power to control which immunizations to require.

Shots of Pfizer-BioNTech’s new COVID-19 booster, which updates the original vaccine to also target the BA.4 and BA.5 variants.
Shots of Pfizer-BioNTech’s new COVID-19 booster, which updates the original vaccine to also target the BA.4 and BA.5 variants.

Gov. Kathy Hochul's administration appealed Neri's ruling on the lawsuit, which was filed by several health workers who cited, in part, religious objections to receiving the shot. The mandate banned religious exemptions but allowed rare exceptions for medical reasons.

Now the appeals court has set a deadline of March 20 for finalizing the appeal filing, which would then be added to the court's term commencing May 15, records show. It would be decided by the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in the Fourth Judicial Department.

The state requirement that New York health care workers be fully vaccinated − meaning two doses of the Moderna or Pfizer-BioNtech vaccines, or one Johnson & Johnson dose − took effect in September 2021.

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The mandate prompted about 34,000 medical workers, or 3% of the workforce at the time, to quit or be fired instead of getting the shots.

Since then, some health industry leaders asserted the loss of unvaccinated workers contributed to a national staffing shortage that is causing a hospital capacity crunch and nursing home crisis in some regions.

The stakes of the appeals court proceedings has been heightened recently as other states and some health providers ramped up pressure on federal officials to end a national COVID-19 vaccine mandate for medical workers. If the federal measure ends, the legal battle over New York's state mandate will determine if the shots are required of health workers here.

This article originally appeared on New York State Team: NY COVID vaccine mandate for health workers in effect amid court battle