As our readers know, on November 5, CMS issued a vaccine mandate which applied to defined “staff” at Medicare- or Medicaid-certified facilities (which were detailed in the mandate) be vaccinated against COVID-19 by certain deadlines, the first of which was December 5, 2021 and the second of which was January 4, 2022. As of yesterday, a federal judge in Louisiana issued a preliminary injunction staying that mandate in all States. The preliminary injunction will remain in effect pending the final resolution of the case in Louisiana or “until further orders from this Court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, or the United States Supreme Court”. Of course, as you also know, the OSHA ETS is in a similar holding pattern. We will continue to keep you updated with any new developments on either mandate.
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