Montana Leads 22-State Coalition Calling for Repeal of Vaccine Mandate

Sarasota, FL (WorkersCompensation.com) – In 2021, the federal government, as well as many large employers, adopted vaccine mandates for COVID-19. In the push for mandated vaccines, by November 2021 the federal government announced that approximately 70 percent of the U.S. population was fully vaccinated. 

While many argued that the science was still too new and the vaccines not necessarily effective, the fallout began with many losing their jobs in their refusal to comply with the mandate. In some cases, such as the employees from Tyson Foods, workers vehemently protested the mandate. 

In the case of Tyson Foods, the employer paid its employees $200 to get vaccinated, and also offered an additional incentive of compensating them if they received the vaccination after work hours. A year later, after implementing the mandate that caused protests as well as legal cases, the company is now suddenly ending the COVID-19 mandate for its employees according to a recent report from Reuters. 

The Tyson announcement is just one of many employers that are back peddling after New York City announced in late September that they were rescinding their mandate that had been in effect since December 2021. According to press release, the decision was made due in part to the decrease in numbers of cases, but also an individual sense of risk.

In yet another landmark move, a coalition of 22 states led by Montana have now formally requested that the Biden administration end its vaccine mandate, as well as all related guidance. The group of attorneys filed the petition on November 17th under the Administrative Procedures Act, asking that the Interim Final Rule (IFR) and State Surveyor Guidance be immediately repealed, both of which outline requirements for facilities to ensure full COVID-19 vaccination of all staff.  

Although the coalition acknowledges that the vaccines were instrumental in preventing the spread of COVID, they state that the science has shown the vaccines are also associated with increased health risk. Additionally, the group cites a violation of rights for healthcare workers, as well as increasing the levels of staffing shortages, especially in high need rural areas. 

According to the Montana press release, the IFR regulates over 10 million healthcare workers and suppliers. Per CMS estimates, approximately 2.4 million workers were unvaccinated when the IFR took effect. The group alleges that CMS’s objective was to cause unvaccinated workers to either choose to lose their jobs or submit to the requirements. 

The coalition believes that if the mandates are not lifted, the staffing shortages will continue to increase, ultimately creating access to care issues especially in rural areas. 

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