House GOP Urges End to COVID Vax Mandate for Healthcare Workers

U.S. Reps. Jeff Duncan, R-S.C., and Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., are urging the Department of Health and Human Services and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to end the COVID-19 vaccine mandate on America’s healthcare workers when the public health emergency ends May 11.

The lawmakers made the request in a letter, also signed by 53 other House Republicans, sent to HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra and CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure.

“We strongly urge you to repeal this authoritarian rule that forces health care workers to get the COVID-19 vaccine in order to keep their job,” the letter said. “We believe this was misguided, un-American policy from the beginning. “

The lawmakers argue the vaccine mandate presents “tremendous workforce challenges” to the healthcare industry.

“Long-term care facilities have lost 307,000 jobs over the course of the pandemic and nursing home staff are not expected to return to pre-pandemic levels until 2027,” the lawmakers wrote. “At a time when we are working as a nation to heal from the COVID-19 pandemic, the COVID-19 vaccine mandate on our health care workers continues to exacerbate health care staffing shortages and jeopardize patient access to quality care, especially in rural and underserved parts of the country.”

The lawmakers cited a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in January 2022 that blocked a COVID-19 mandate instituted by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. They also cited how the COVID-19 vaccine mandate on federal contractors was recently blocked by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit in Louisiana and by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit in Ohio.

“These rulings reinforce that the government does not have the authority to dictate an individual’s COVID-19 vaccination status, and this should extend to America’s health care workers,” the letter said.

On April 10, President Joe Biden signed a bipartisan resolution passed by both houses of Congress that officially ended the national COVID-19 emergency declared by President Donald Trump in March 2020.

“The pandemic is over, and has been for some time,” Buchanan said in a news release. “Continuing to subject health care workers to unnecessary, pandemic-era big government overreach provides no benefit and will inevitably lead to adverse health outcomes for patients.

“The public health emergency expires in May, and with its expiration, President Biden should rescind this heavy-handed mandate and stop contributing to our nation’s already concerning health care worker shortage.”

Newsmax reached out to the Department of Health and Human Services and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for comment.