Texas Sues Biden Administration for Requiring Health Care Workers to Get COVID-19 Vaccine

In Texas’ latest legal challenge targeting federal vaccination mandates, Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing the Biden administration over its recent order requiring health workers to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.

The Biden administration issued an emergency order, which went into effect Nov. 4, requiring eligible workers at health care facilities participating in the Medicare and Medicaid programs to get the first shot of a two-dose vaccine or a one-dose vaccine by Dec. 6.

Paxton called the mandate “an unprecedented federal vaccine decree” on health care workers.

“At a time when we need healthcare workers more than ever before, amid a harrowing worker shortage, the Biden Administration has prioritized this unlawful vaccine mandate over the healthcare of all Americans,” Paxton said Monday night in a statement. “We need healthcare workers, regardless of their vaccination status, and this decision puts us on track for an impending disaster within the healthcare industry.”

Texas joins 10 other states suing the Biden administration over the mandate.

Paxton’s lawsuit comes days after he sued the Biden administration over a different COVID-19 vaccination rule ordering big businesses to require their staff to get vaccinated or regularly get tested for the virus. Last month, Paxton filed a separate lawsuit against the Biden administration over its coronavirus vaccine mandate for federal contractors.

This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2021/11/16/texas-sues-biden-vaccine-mandate/. The Texas Tribune is a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and engaging Texans on state politics and policy. Learn more at texastribune.org.