Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and Occupational Health and Safety Administration(OSHA) Vaccine Mandates Released

Last week various federal agencies released more details about new vaccine mandates. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued a new federal rule last week mandating COVID-19 vaccinations or at least weekly testing for workers at U.S. companies with 100 or more employees. The OSHA rules are a key part of President Biden’s push to use employer mandates to increase vaccination rates. OSHA is holding webinars to detail these new rules this Tuesday and next Monday. The administration also released a new rule through the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the CMS Interim Rule, that requires workers at health care facilities participating in Medicare or Medicaid to be fully vaccinated by January 4. This FAQ from CMS provides more details. This summary of the OSHA rule from the National Council of Nonprofits is a helpful guide to the regulations. For more resources, check out the Social Current federal update. See this factsheet from the Biden Administration on the CMS and OSHA mandates.

Update: On November 12, 2021, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit granted a motion to stay OSHA’s COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing Emergency Temporary Standard, published on November 5, 2021 (86 Fed. Reg. 61402) (“ETS”). The court ordered that OSHA “take no steps to implement or enforce” the ETS “until further court order.” OSHA has suspended activities related to the implementation and enforcement of the ETS pending future developments in the litigation.

As of 11/29/21, Federal Court halted the CMS vaccine mandate rule in 10 states that filed a lawsuit on 11/10/2021.

As of 11/30/2021, Federal Court halted the CMS vaccine mandate nationwide.

As of 12/15/2021: The states the Fifth Circuit has now excluded from the nationwide preliminary injunction could be subject to renewed enforcement by CMS on a go-forward basis, but CMS has not yet issued any indication on whether it will begin implementation of its rule anew in those states. If CMS does begin re-implementing its rule in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin, it may issue new compliance deadlines, including a deadline for a first (or only) vaccine dose.

PCCYFS has created resources for its members including a chart of the CMS and OSHA vaccine mandates and a resource list.