The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected blocking New York’s COVID-19 vaccination mandate for healthcare workers, our sister network NBC reported. This mandate has an exception for medical reasons, but not for religious reasons.
The highest court acted on emergency appeals from doctors, nurses and other health workers who oppose the mandate and who say they are forced to choose between their jobs and their religious beliefs.
According to NBC reports, Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch indicated that the Supreme Court should have considered the appeal.
“Now thousands of New York healthcare workers face job loss and the criteria for unemployment benefits,” Gorsuch wrote in a 14-page opinion joined by Alito.
New York is one of three states, along with Maine and Rhode Island, that do not accept healthcare workers who oppose vaccination on religious grounds.
The court had previously rejected the petition of the health workers in Maine, who filed a similar challenge, with the same three judges disagreeing.
As of Oct. 19, about 90% of healthcare workers were fully vaccinated and most of the rest had received one of the two doses, the state told the superior court. Less than 2% of workers in nursing homes, adult care centers and hospitals had applied for a religious exemption, the state said.
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