What you should know
- A federal judge temporarily blocked New York State from forcing medical workers to get vaccinated after a group of healthcare workers sued, saying their constitutional rights were violated because the state’s mandate did not allow exemptions. religious.
- Seventeen healthcare professionals, including doctors and nurses, claimed in a lawsuit Monday that their rights were violated with a vaccine mandate that did not allow for exemptions.
- The state issued the order on August 28, requiring at least a first injection for healthcare workers in hospitals and nursing homes by September 27.
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NEW YORK – A federal judge temporarily blocked New York state from forcing medical workers to get vaccinated after a group of healthcare workers sued, saying their constitutional rights were violated because the state’s mandate it did not allow religious exemptions.
Judge David Hurd in Utica issued the order Tuesday after 17 healthcare professionals, including doctors and nurses, claimed in a lawsuit Monday that their rights were violated with a vaccine mandate that did not allow for exemptions.
The judge gave New York state until September 22 to respond to the lawsuit in federal court in Utica. If the state objects to the plaintiffs’ request for a preliminary injunction blocking the vaccine mandate, an oral hearing will be held on September 28.
The state issued the order on August 28, requiring at least a first injection for healthcare workers in hospitals and nursing homes by September 27.
In their lawsuit, health professionals disguised their identities with pseudonyms such as “Dr. A. “,” Nurse A. “and” Liaison Doctor X. “
The plaintiffs cited violations of the U.S. Constitution, along with New York State Human Rights Law and New York City Human Rights Law, because the state Department of Health regulation requires vaccinating workers does not provide exemptions for “sincere religious beliefs that require refusal of such vaccination.”
Court documents said that all available vaccines employ aborted fetus cell lines in their testing, development or production.
The lawsuit said the plaintiffs wanted to proceed anonymously because “they risk being excluded, threats of harm, immediate dismissal and other retaliatory consequences if their names are known.”
The plaintiffs, all Christians, include practicing physicians, nurses, a nuclear medicine technologist, a cognitive rehabilitation therapist and a medical liaison who oppose any medical cooperation in abortion on religious grounds, according to the lawsuit.
He added that they are not “anti-vaccines” that are opposed to all vaccines.
In a statement, Hazel Crampton-Hays, press secretary to Governor Kathy Hochul said, “Governor Hochul is doing everything in her power to protect New Yorkers and combat the Delta variant by increasing vaccination rates throughout the state. Demanding vaccination of healthcare workers is central to this battle. This order does not suspend the vaccine mandate, but temporarily prohibits the Health Department from enforcing the mandate when people claim religious exemptions. We are considering all of our legal options to keep our communities safe. “
Messages seeking comment were sent to the Thomas More Society attorneys who filed the lawsuit and the New York State Department of Health. The state attorney general’s office referred the questions to the health department.
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