Arizona’s attorney general says that “health care heroes” should be able to choose whether they want to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
Arizona and 11 other states have filed another lawsuit challenging President Joe Biden’s vaccine and testing requirements for certain health care workers.
According to KTAR.com, Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana earlier this week.
“Attorney General Mark Brnovich is co-leading a multistate coalition in filing a lawsuit to stop the Biden administration’s overreaching ‘job or jab’ COVID-19 vaccine mandate for health care workers. The mandate threatens to further burden the health care sector and patient well-being in Arizona, where nursing homes and other long-term care facilities are already facing worker shortages,” Brnovich’s office said in a press release.
The lawsuit was filed in coordination with Republican attorneys general from Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah, and West Virginia.
The lawsuit, says KTAR.com, alleges that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services COVID-19 vaccine mandate, which requires that health care workers in federally-funded facilities get inoculated against novel coronavirus, exceeds the agency’s authority.
Furthermore, the claim asserts that the same mandate violates provisions of the Social Security Act, which regulate how and when health care workers may be hired and fired.
The lawsuit suggests that the vaccine requirement also breaches multiple federal laws, and impacts health care workers’ Tenth Amendment constitutional protections.
“We think it’s clearly unconstitutional,” Brnovich said in a statement. His office also implied that the enactment of an industry-wide vaccine mandate may impact the health care sector, making it harder for patients to find regular care.
“The Biden administration’s COVID-19 mandate threatens the well-being of people who rely on services provided by the federal health care programs and the livelihoods of those who provide that care,” his office said.
Brnovich, calling health care workers “heroes,” said employees should be allowed to make their own choices.
“It’s our turn to protect their individual liberties and ensure that all Americans can continue to make their own choices regarding COVID-19 vaccines,” Brnovich said.
Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry, however, took a more aggressive approach, saying the Biden administration is effectively trying to bully American workers.
“The federal government will not impose medical tyranny on Louisiana’s people without my best fight,” Landry said.
However, FOX-10 Phoenix notes that the attorneys general have yet to persuade the district judge overseeing the case to grant a temporary restraining order or injunction against the mandate.
As LegalReader.com has reported before, other Republican attorneys general have filed lawsuit against the Biden administration’s vaccination and testing requirements for businesses with 100 or more workers.
This mandate, expected to take effect in January, would require any business with 100 or more workers to ensure that their employees are either fully vaccinated or subjected to weekly coronavirus testing.
Sources
2nd Group of States Challenges Health Worker Vaccine Mandate
Arizona, 11 other states sue Biden over vaccine mandate for health care workers
Arizona AG sues Biden administration, again, over COVID-19 vaccine mandate for health care workers
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