Federal Judge Blocks Biden Administration’s COVID Vaccine Mandate for Health Care Workers

A federal judge on Monday halted the Biden administration’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for health care workers, though the ruling only applies to 10 states. The mandate, promulgated earlier this month by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), required approximately 17 million workers to get a jab or face termination. But CMS lacks the authority to impose such a broad mandate, U.S. District Judge Matthew Schelp, a Trump nominee, ruled. “Plaintiffs are likely to succeed in their argument that Congress has not provided CMS the authority to enact the regulation at issue here,” Schelp wrote in a 32-page ruling…