Judge Terry A. Doughty of the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana has ordered that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services are enjoined and restrained from implementing the CMS Mandate set forth in 86 Fed. Reg. 61555-01 (November 5, 2021) (the “CMS Mandate”). The CMS Mandate would require over 10.3 million healthcare workers to be fully vaccinated with one of the Covid-19 vaccines by January 4, 2022. The Court’s injunction restrains implementation of the CMS Mandate as to all healthcare providers, suppliers, owners, employees, and all others covered by the CMS Mandate.

Notably, the scope of the injunction is not limited to states who filed suit. Instead, the scope of the injunction is nationwide, except for those states already under a preliminary injunction order issued by the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri on November 29, 2021. (Missouri v. Biden, No. 4:21-cv-01329) The Court noted that it considered limiting its injunction to the 14 states who brought the suit, but it ultimately decided that “due to the nationwide scope of the CMS Mandate, a nationwide injunction is necessary due to the need for uniformity.”

The injunction will remain in place pending the final resolution of the case or until otherwise ordered by the District Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit or the United States Supreme Court.