For more information about this blog post, please contact Khaled J. Klele, Ryan M. Magee, Labinot Alexander Berlajolli, or Connor Breza.

On December 28, 2021, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) updated its policy mandating the vaccine for healthcare workers.

Following decisions by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth, Eighth, and Eleventh Circuits and the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, implementation and enforcement of the CMS Omnibus Rule requiring vaccination for healthcare workers is preliminarily enjoined in the following 25 states: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

However, implementation of the vaccine mandate will be monitored and enforced on a modified timeline—the deadline to receive a single‑dose vaccine or the first dose of a two‑dose vaccine is January 27, 2022, and the deadline to be fully vaccinated is February 28, 2022—in the District of Columbia, U.S. territories, and the following 25 states: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin.