President Joe Biden’s administration should immediately end its COVID-19 vaccine mandate for health care workers, a top congressman said on May 10.
The COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) is ending just after midnight on May 12. Several COVID-19 vaccine mandates are ending at the same time. But it’s not clear when the mandate imposed by the Department of Human Services (HHS) Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) is ending, prompting the new letter from Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.).
The White House said recently that HHS would be “start[ing] the process” to end the health care worker mandate. But no end date was given.
“Given the end of the PHE, there is no justification to delay any further and request you terminate this vaccine requirement immediately,” Johnson, the vice chair of the House Republican Conference, wrote to Health Secretary Xavier Becerra in a letter.
The congressman noted that there are serious health care worker shortages that have grown worse during the pandemic. Causes include the mandate and burnout.
Rescinding the mandate would be a “simple fix” that would help address the shortages, Johnson said.
HHS and CMS have not responded to requests for comment.
The mandate is for facilities that participate in Medicare and Medicaid. It covers more than 10 million workers nationwide. It was imposed in 2021 with claims it would help reduce COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations, and transmission of the virus that causes COVID-19. Vaccinated people could always become infected and sick, and transmit the virus.
More recent numbers show the vaccines have become increasingly ineffective against newer variants. Recent U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data indicates the vaccines provide little protection against infection and transient protection against hospitalization. But CMS has not updated or revoked the mandate.
Some of the U.S. government’s mandates have been blocked by courts, such as one for all private businesses with at least 100 workers. But the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the health care worker mandate was valid in a narrow 5–4 ruling, and additional attempts to get it blocked have failed.
Members of Congress have tried to act. The Republican-controlled House passed H.R. 497, or the Freedom for Health Care Workers Act, which would nullify the mandate. But the bill, approved in January, has not been considered by the Democrat-controlled Senate.
A separate piece of legislation that forced the ending of the COVID-19 national emergency was approved by both chambers. Biden signed the bill in April despite opposing it.