New York State to Repeal COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate for Health Care Workers
The end of the mandate was announced in an appeals court today, but Hochul administration lawyers are still trying to get rid of the precedent-setting decision that struck it down in a lower court.
At a Rochester, NY appellate court hearing this morning in the case of Medical Professionals for Informed Consent et al v. Mary T. Bassett M.D. et al, a New York State attorney, Jonathan Hitsous, announced that the New York State Department of Health will repeal the statewide COVID-19 vaccine mandate for health care workers in the coming months, and is ending enforcement of the rule immediately.
A lower court decision by Judge Gerard Neri in favor of Medical Professionals for Informed Consent struck down the state mandate in January 2023, but that decision was stayed when the Hochul administration appealed the decision, and health care institutions continued to enforce the mandate. An estimated 34,000 health care workers across the state were barred from working under the mandate.
Hitsous broke the news at the beginning of the hearing:
“I would like to advise the court that the Department of Health has just informed me that they intend to repeal the regulation . . . the department no lo…