U.S. Representatives. Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.) and Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.) are calling for the Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to stop the COVID-19 vaccine requirement for American healthcare professionals when the public health emergency ends on May.
The lawmakers requested for it through a letter they wrote to CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure and HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra, which was also signed by 53 other House Republicans.
They vehemently demand for the removal of this oppressive law that compels healthcare professionals to receive the COVID-19 vaccination in order to maintain their position because they feel that this was an unwise and un-American policy from the start.
According to the legislators, the healthcare sector will face “tremendous workforce challenges” as a result of the vaccine requirement.
They also explained that, “Long-term care facilities have lost 307,000 jobs over the course of the pandemic and nursing home staff are not expected to return to pre-pandemic levels until 2027. At a time when we are working as a nation to heal from the COVID-19 pandemic, the COVID-19 vaccine mandate on our health care workers continues to exacerbate health care staffing shortages and jeopardize patient access to quality care, especially in rural and underserved parts of the country.”
The legislators referenced a January 2022 decision by the US Supreme Court that invalidated a COVID-19 rule established by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. They also mentioned how the US Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit in Louisiana and the US Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit in Ohio recently overturned the COVID-19 vaccine requirement for government contractors.
They further stated that since the verdicts show that the government is lenient in requiring individuals to be immunized against COVID-19, this should apply to all American healthcare professionals as well.
“The pandemic is over, and has been for some time,” Buchanan emphasized in a news release. “Continuing to subject health care workers to unnecessary, pandemic-era big government overreach provides no benefit and will inevitably lead to adverse health outcomes for patients.”
When the public health emergency ends in May, they highly suggest that President Biden must revoke the restrictive order and quit adding to the country’s already critical healthcare staff crisis.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Department of Health and Human Services has yet to release their statements.
