Published in the Federal Register on June 5, a Final Rule by US Department of Health and Human Services’ Secretary Xavier Becerra has ended the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) requirement that health care workers receive a COVID-19 vaccine. Back in January 2022, we reported on the fact that the US Supreme Court ruled that the Medicare mandate was lawful, one of the few Biden administration vaccine mandates to be upheld. This means that while the mandate is over for now, it could be resurrected in the future. The new Final Rule takes effect 60 days after publication in the Federal Register, meaning that this will happen on August 4, 2023.

Education about, and access to, COVID-19 vaccines still provided

The new Final Rule covers a variety of topics, but probably the most important is the removal of the vaccine mandate: this means that, unless otherwise required by specific employers, US health care workers no longer have to choose between “jab or job.” It also finalizes requirements that facilities provide education about, and access to, COVID-19 vaccines for residents and staff. DHHS notes that “As conditions and circumstances of the COVID-19 [public health emergency] have evolved, so too has CMS’ response. At this point in time, we believe that the risks targeted by the staff vaccination [rule] have been largely addressed, so we are now aligning our approach with those for other infectious diseases, specifically influenza.”  

Circumstances have changed

DHHS goes on to state that, “circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic have evolved, as has CMS’ response, as discussed throughout this rule. As mentioned above, based on an evaluation of the evolving clinical and epidemiological circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic, increased vaccine uptake, declining infection and death rates, decreasing severity of disease, increased instances of infection-induced immunity, public comments submitted to CMS, and the addition of COVID-19 vaccination quality measures to quality improvement and reporting programs, we believe regulations regarding COVID-19 vaccination of health care staff are no longer necessary.”

“Does not imply…that CMS could not take such steps again in the future”

The Final Rule also reports that most public commenters, “stated that CMS did not have the statutory authority to infringe on the personal rights of health care staff to choose vaccination or not.” DHHS retorts that in Biden v. Missouri the Supreme Court said that “the Secretary’s rule falls within the authorities that Congress has conferred upon him.” They also note that the new rule with make COVID-19 policies like those for other diseases, and “reflects the ongoing evolution of epidemiological and clinical circumstances; it does not imply that our issuance of the staff vaccination [order] was invalid or that CMS could not take such steps again in the future, if circumstances warrant.”

Testing rules also changed

On May 31 the American Hospital Association weighed in; they posited that, “The [new] rule also eliminated long-term care facility COVID-19 testing requirements which had already expired in regulation but requires staff and residents of long-term care facilities be educated on the vaccine and its benefits.”

Taking the new Final Rule in the context of other vaccine mandates being rolled back at the state and local level, this termination of the last federal vaccine mandate is a sign that health freedom is making a comeback!