Judge Extends Injunction For Religious Exemptions To Vax Mandate

NEW YORK — A federal judge upheld a preliminary injunction Tuesday allowing religious exemptions from the New York State-imposed vaccination mandate for healthcare workers.

According to a Newsday report, the preliminary injuction, first issued by Judge David Hurd of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York in Utica in September, was extended indefinitely. The judge maintained that the mandate conflicts with "long-standing federal protections for religious beliefs," the report said.

In September, Hurd issued the order after the Thomas More Society filed a suit on behalf of 17 health professionals claiming that their rights were violated by a vaccine mandate that disallowed the exemptions.

Hurd's ruling came after a judge refused to issue a temporary restraining order based on a lawsuit by two healthcare workers on Long Island.

The plaintiffs, who said they were Christians, said they are not "anti-vaxxers" who oppose all vaccines, the Associated Press reported.

Scientists say the COVID-19 vaccines do not contain aborted fetal cells but that they, and vaccines for chickenpox, rubella, hepatitis A and rabies, were developed using cells grown in a laboratory based on fetal cells collected generations ago.

The plaintiffs include practicing doctors, nurses, a nuclear medicine technologist, a cognitive rehabilitation therapist and a physician's liaison who said they all opposed as a matter of religious conviction any medical cooperation in abortion, according to the AP.

The judge's decision Tuesday does not impact the mandate for any other workers.

The vaccination mandate, ordered by then Governor Andrew Cuomo in August, went into effect on September 27.

Responding to the judge's decision Tuesday, Hochul said: "My responsibility as governor is to protect the people of this state, and requiring health care workers to get vaccinated accomplishes that. I stand behind this mandate, and I will fight this decision in court to keep New Yorkers safe."

Hochul, who has maintained that she believes the state will emerge victorious in legal challenges to the mandate, said in September, before the mandate took effect, that the clock was ticking for all health care workers to be vaccinated. Those who did not comply would lose their jobs, she said.

"My priority is to stop this virus dead in its tracks," she said. "The only way to do this is to ensure everyone is vaccinated but particularly people taking care of the sick."

In areas where health care workers chose not to be vaccinated, Hochul said she would be convening an operation center; she has asked hospitals where high numbers have been vaccinated to give the state the names of people who are willing to be deployed elsewhere to help mitigate staff shortages.

Hochul also signed an executive order giving her the emergency powers necessary to address shortages where they might occur and allowing her to deploy the National Guard who are medically trained. The order also allows her to deploy people, who've either been retired or who may have had a licensed lapse, and finally, to bring in workers from elsewhere to help.

Hochul has said that she will not rescind the mandate and announced new mandates recently.

"This is about self-defense," Hochul said. "I'm here to defend the people of New York."

Additional reporting by Lanning Taliaferro.