CLEVELAND – University Hospitals and the Cleveland Clinic are suspending their COVID-19 vaccination mandates following a recent federal injunction. The hospital systems issued the policy weeks ago in accordance with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. University Hospitals said:
“Come Jan. 4, unless there is further legal action, caregivers may continue to provide patient care services regardless of their vaccination status,” UH said in a statement on Thursday.
Hours later, the Cleveland Clinic issued a similar statement.
“In light of these developments, we are pausing the implementation of our COVID-19 vaccine policy, which required all employees and those who provide services with us to either receive the COVID-19 vaccine or an approved exemption with accommodations” the Clinic said.
ORLANDO, Fla. – AdventHealth announced today it’s suspending their COVID-19 vaccine mandate in place for employees.
AdventHealth President and CEO Terry Shaw previously set vaccine requirement deadlines to comply with the federal vaccine mandate, which mandates vaccines for health care companies participating in Medicare and Medicaid programs.
The health organization previously sent a letter to employees saying they had until Dec. 6 to get their first shot of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, or a single shot of Johnson & Johnson vaccine and until Jan. 4 to receive the second dose of the two-shot vaccines. However,
Recent court decisions resulted in AdventHealth’s reconsideration of a vaccine mandate.
“Due to recent decisions by the federal courts to block the CMS vaccine mandate, we are suspending the vaccination requirements prescribed by this mandate. We will continue to monitor the ongoing litigation regarding the federal law,” AdventHealth representative Jeff Grainger said in a statement.
Commentary
On Nov. 30, 2021, the Honorable Terry A. Doughty ruled in favor of 17 plaintiff-states who argued that the CMS mandate violated the Administrative Procedure Act and the Social Security Act. See Louisiana v. Becerra, Docket No. 3:21-CV-03970 (U.S. Dist. Ct., W. Dist LA, Nov. 30, 2021). The lawsuit was brought by the states of Louisiana, Montana, Arizona, Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Ohio.
Judge Doughty’s ruling is similar to the ruling by the Missouri district court issued a day earlier. Similarly, the court rejected the argument that COVID-19 cases would increase during the winter months and opined that the Delta variant was immune to the vaccines. Further, the court ruled that CMS exceeded its authority in issuing the mandate, as any such mandate could only emanate from Congress. Even if mandated by Congress, Judge Doughty doubted that such a mandate could survive constitutional scrutiny.
While this is good news for freedom of conscience, don’t pop the cork on that sparkling cider just yet. The Biden administration is determined to compel all Americans to fall in line and will no doubt try to force their will upon U.S. citizens by any means possible.
Another important reason for these hospitals to pause their COVID vaccination mandates is attrition. I am aware of 13,300 healthcare employees (in a limited pool of hospitals) who have resigned from their jobs rather than yield to vaccine mandates.
To cite one example, Mohawk Valley Health System announced on Sept. 28 that New York's mandate led 180 employees to separate from the system. This has increased its vacancy rate to 17.5%. Hospital services are still operating at both of the system's campuses, although they are experiencing service delays and other limitations. This places increased stress on other workers.
This momentum shift provides the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists and the Adventist Healthcare department an opportune moment to raise their voice against vaccine mandates, federal and otherwise. They may continue to support vaccines in general and the COVID ‘vaccine’ in particular, but for them to remain silent or supportive regarding the (likely
unconstitutional) Biden mandate is to help [medical] tyranny gain a foothold at a time when we as a Church should be strengthening freedom of conscience. "All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent” (credited to Thomas Jefferson and Edmund Burke).
****
John Stuart Mill, in an address at the University of St. Andrews in 1867: "Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends than that good men should look on and do nothing."