Senate Passes Measure striking down Healthcare Worker Vaccine Mandate

In January, Supreme Court Justices handed down a pair of decisions that delivered mixed results in terms of White House efforts to establish widespread vaccine mandates. They ruled against the mandate that employees of large companies either get vaccinated or get tested weekly, but upheld the federal mandate for healthcare workers in facilities that accept Medicare and Medicaid funding to get vaccinated.In that 5-4 decision, the Justices said the core mission of the Department of Health and Human Services is to ensure that the healthcare providers who care for Medicare and Medicaid patients protect their patients' health and safety.In many facilities, 35% or more of staff remain unvaccinated, according to the ruling. The COVID–19 virus can spread rapidly among healthcare workers and from them to patients, and it's more likely when healthcare workers are unvaccinated.