CONCORD, NH – New Hampshire has joined with nine other states in a lawsuit against the federal government for imposing a vaccine mandate on all workers at healthcare facilities that receive Medicare or Medicaid funding.
An announcement by NH Attorney General John Formella was made Wednesday that New Hampshire was joining the 10-state coalition, along with Missouri, Nebraska, Arkansas, Kansas, Iowa, Wyoming, Alaska, South Dakota and North Dakota
In the body of the complaint, it says that the government’s mandate “threatens with job loss millions of healthcare workers who risked their lives in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic to care for strangers and friends in their communities,” and that the plaintiff states, including New Hampshire, “seek to end this dragooning of our States’ healthcare heroes.
In addition, the suit claims that the vaccine mandate “also threatens to exacerbate an alarming shortage of healthcare workers, particularly in rural communities, that has already reached a boiling point.”
In connection with the filing, Governor Chris Sununu and Attorney General Formella released the following statements:
“We have heard from long-term care facilities that are at risk of shutting down if this mandate goes through,” said Governor Chris Sununu. “This lawsuit can help stop another overreaching mandate in its tracks, avoiding a catastrophic workforce and care crisis for some of our State’s most vulnerable residents.”
“The available Covid-19 vaccines are safe and effective, and the State understands that many healthcare facilities have or will voluntarily implement a vaccine mandate for their employees,” said Attorney General Formella. “Unfortunately, the new mandate issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services was not adopted in conformance with the law and would force a vaccine mandate on every worker in every healthcare facility that receives Medicare or Medicaid funding. We are once again obligated to take action to protect the State from this illegal mandate and the burden it would place on our already strained healthcare workers and facilities.”
A copy of the complaint is below: