Supreme Court shuts down challenge to Biden's vaccination rule for healthcare workers

The Supreme Court has declined to hear 10 states’ challenge to the Biden administration’s requirement that employees of healthcare facilities that receive federal funding be vaccinated against COVID-19.

The top court had already voted 5-4 in favor of the administration’s rule in January.

Justices wrote at the time that it was within the federal government’s right to impose conditions on Medicare and Medicaid funding. The decision lifted preliminary injunctions that had been granted by lower courts and sent the case back down for legal review.

In April, the rural, largely Republican states took an appeal to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for an expedited hearing in hopes they could block the rule from going into effect. The appellate court declined to review the case, leading the states to file their petition with the top court in May.

Missouri, Nebraska, Alaska, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming argued in their petition that the vaccination requirement violates federal law and infringes on state powers.

The states also said the requirement worsens staffing shortages among rural healthcare facilities and limits their ability to treat patients.

The Supreme Court began its new term Monday and listed the vaccine case (PDF) among the petitions denied certiorari.

The federal vaccination requirement applies to more than 10 million healthcare workers across tens of thousands of facilities, according to the White House.

The administration’s courtroom wins regarding the vaccines have not extended to an Occupational Safety and Health Administration mandate for large employers, which the Supreme Court had shot down 6-3 in January.

Still, two and a half years into the pandemic have lessened the federal government’s focus on healthcare COVID-19 vaccination. Recent guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now discard healthcare workers’ vaccination and booster status when determining whether to require screening, quarantine or face masking, for instance.