Court Halts Healthcare Vax Mandate, What’s It Mean for Montana?

We have some breaking news this Monday afternoon. A federal judge ordered a halt to the federal vaccine mandate targeting healthcare workers. That's the good news.

But here's the catch: this order only applies (for now) to the 10 states in this specific case. Montana is challenging the federal vaccine mandate in another case, so this specific ruling does not yet apply to Montana.

If you're a healthcare worker in Montana; though, don't worry just yet- Montana's Attorney General told us recently that he is very optimistic that the vaccine mandate will be halted. He told healthcare workers to "hang in there" as the legal challenge moves forward.

Now, back to this latest news from a federal court in Missouri. Business Insider broke the news: (h/t John Jackson via Twitter)

Judge Matthew Schelp of the Eastern District of Missouri issued the preliminary injunction for workers at Medicare- and Medicaid-certified medical facilities in Alaska, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, New Hampshire, Nebraska, Wyoming, and North and South Dakota, court documents said...He said the mandate would impose a burden "on the ability of healthcare facilities to provide proper care, and thus, save lives."

As for the other case that impacts Montana, AG Knudsen told me recently that he is optimistic they will get a good ruling out of the federal courts prior to the December 5th deadline.

AG Knudsen: I think we're going to get the correct ruling out of this judge. Again, I can't make any promises. But I would tell your healthcare workers please, please keep coming to work. Please, we need you. You are so desperately needed by your patients. Hang in there. We got this thing going as fast as we could. It's the single biggest issue in my office right now. My solicitor has burned a lot of midnight oil working on this and getting it filed because it's that important, but I think we're gonna have a ruling probably within a week or two. But I do think it's going to be before that mandate of December 4th.

Read More: Montana AG Tells Healthcare Workers to "Hang in There" |