|
 “Because it is evident CMS significantly understates the burden
that its mandate would impose on the ability of healthcare facilities to provide
proper care, and thus, save lives, the public has an interest in maintaining the
‘status quo’ while the merits of the case are determined,” Schelp wrote in a
32-page memorandum and order in the U.S. District Court in the Eastern District
of Missouri.
Missouri Republican Attorney General Eric Schmitt led a
10-state coalition filing the lawsuit on Nov. 5 to stop the CMS vaccine mandate.
On the courthouse steps in St. Louis, Schmitt, a candidate for the seat of
retiring Republican U.S. Senator Roy Blunt, stated many will benefit from the
ruling.
“This is a significant ruling and the first of its kind in the country,” Schmitt
told reporters. “What the court said today was CMS and the Biden administration
has no statutory authority to do this, none whatsoever.”
Starting in late October, Schmitt led coalitions of states in filing three
lawsuits against federal vaccine mandates – for federal contractors and
federally contracted employees, for the Occupational Safety and Health
Administration’s mandate on private employers with 100 or more employees, and
CMS.
 The Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans blocked the
private-sector OSHA mandate earlier this month.
Schmitt said Monday's ruling will help all Missourians and all served in CMS
facilities.
“Our office may have led the charge on this, but it is the health care workers
in Missouri and across the country, it’s the rural hospitals here and elsewhere
facing certain collapse due to this mandate, and it’s the patients of those
hospitals who are the real winners today,” Schmitt said.
Judge Schelp stated five times in the ruling that it's likely Schmitt and the
coalition will ultimately succeed if the ruling is appealed. The ruling only
applies to the 10 states in the lawsuit – Alaska, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas,
Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming.
“I would expect this to be appealed and I would expect this to go all of the way
to the Supreme Court,” Schmitt said. “But the fact is we won.”
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The ruling stated CMS lacked clear authorization
from Congress to mandate the COVID-19 vaccine. Currently, CMS
doesn’t require any vaccinations for health care workers.
“CMS failed to adequately explain its contradiction to its
long-standing practice of encouraging rather than forcing – by
governmental mandate – vaccination,” Schelp wrote. “For years, CMS
has promulgated regulations setting the conditions for Medicare and
Medicaid participation; never has it required any vaccine for
covered facilities’ employees – despite concerns over other
illnesses and their corresponding low vaccination rates.”
Schelp also stated CMS violated its own regulations by not accepting
comments on policies.
“Moreover, the failure to take and respond to comments feeds into
the very vaccine hesitancy CMS acknowledges is so daunting,” Schelp
wrote.
Schelp highlighted the vaccine mandate’s negative impact on staffing
at rural hospitals.
“As an example, for a general hospital located in North Platte,
Nebraska, implementation of the mandate would result in the loss of
the only remaining anesthesiologist,” Schelp wrote. “Understandably,
without an anesthesiologist, there could be no surgeries – at all.
Thus, such a loss irreparably causes a cascading effect on the
entire facility and a wide range of patients. Other examples show
the mandate’s far-reaching implications not just on the
administration of health care itself, but the functioning of the
facilities in general.” Schmitt said the virus will
always be present and the federal government needs to understand
citizens and their rights.
“The truth is COVID is with us and there is always going to be a
variant,” Schmitt said. “But I think the people have had enough of
the government locking people down. They have had enough of
government instituting mask mandates and vaccine mandates. Every
time there’s an overreach, we’re going to push back.”
Bureaucrats who have never driven the back roads of Missouri or
visited its rural hospitals have no idea of the effects of the
vaccine mandate, Schmitt said.
“Here in flyover country, we’ve had enough and we’re going to fight
back every single time they try to take our freedoms away,” Schmitt
said. |
