Governor Pete Ricketts says he’s hoping to hear soon on the state’s lawsuit against the Biden Administration’s healthcare vaccination mandate issued through CMS, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid.
While an injunction has been issued against the OSHA vaccination mandate for businesses with 100 or more employees, no such injunction has been issued in the legal action on the mandate for health care and related workers.
At Tuesday’s Pre-Legislative Breakfast sponsored by the Scottsbluff-Gering Chamber’s Government Affairs Committee, Ricketts said the mandate could be devastating if it’s allowed to take effect.
“Whether it’s a city that maybe has it’s own nursing home, whether it’s… I was talking to Kyle Kellum, the CEO of Cherry County Hospital, and if they lose even a fraction of the people who said they’re not going to get vaccinated, they’re going to have to stop delivering babies. They’re going have to shut down services,” said Ricketts. “The Biden Administration has no clue of what is going on in the rest of the country. President Biden’s living in a little bubble in Washington, D.C., and has no idea what it’s like anywhere else.”
The Governor says the state Attorney General’s office has asked for an expedited hearing on the lawsuit, and is expecting to hear a decision on a preliminary injunction on the CMS mandate by Nov. 29.
On Nov. 20, a U.S. District Court judge for the Northern District of Florida denied the State of Florida’s request to block the rule.
