Federal court rules in favor of Maine’s vaccine mandate for healthcare workers

In July 2021, Maine implemented a rule requiring employees of designated healthcare facilities to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 with only medical exemptions allowed. The new regulation was immediately challenged in court, and a federal judge recently denied the effort to temporarily block the mandate from taking effect. The state indicated it wouldn’t enforce the rule until October 29.

Facts

The lawsuit was filed by workers from some of Maine’s largest healthcare facilities, including MaineHealth, MaineGeneral Health, Northern Light Health, and Genesis Healthcare of Maine. In addition to those organizations, others targeted by the litigation included Governor Janet Mills, Dr. Nirav Shah, and Maine Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Commissioner Jeanne Lambrew.

The workers claim their sincerely held religious beliefs have prevented them from being vaccinated against COVID-19. They take specific issue with the coronavirus shots because they (1) believe “life is sacred from the moment of conception” and (2) claim the vaccines have their origins in research on aborted fetal cell lines.

Because the vaccine mandate doesn’t contain a religious exemption but allows a medical exemption, the workers argue healthcare providers should be prohibited from enforcing it or terminating their employment based on their refusal to get the shots. At least five of them sought a religious exemption from their employer and were denied. At least one worker has already been fired.

Court’s decision