St. Joseph Regional Medical Center workers will not have to be vaccinated against COVID-19 for now following a federal court injunction temporarily halting a vaccine mandate for health care workers.
Before the injunction, St. Joe’s employees were under orders to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by early January to comply with the federal mandate.
Prior to the mandate, the hospital reported a vaccination rate of just over 58 percent of its employees. The number of workers becoming vaccinated went up after the mandate, but those who refused would have been suspended if the federal mandate had stayed in place.
Idaho Governor Brad Little and Attorney General Lawrence Wasden, along with other states, filed a lawsuit on behalf of the state challenging the health care worker vaccine mandate. Two other lawsuits challenging mandates are pending, including one involving federal contractors and another that would affect private employers with 100 or more employees.
