The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to intervene against a vaccine mandate in New York state, ruling against healthcare workers in a pair of challenges to the order based on religious objections.
According to the Associated Press:
The court acted on emergency appeals filed by doctors, nurses and other medical workers who say they are being forced to choose between their jobs and religious beliefs.
As is typical in such appeals, the court did not explain its order, although it has similarly refused to get in the way of vaccine mandates elsewhere.
In the 6-3 decision, only Justices Neil Gorsuch, Clarence Thomas, and Samuel Alito dissented.
As the New York Times noted, the Supreme Court in October "refused to provide relief to health care workers in Maine who had made an essentially identical request in a challenge to a similar state requirement, over the dissents of the same three justices."
Arguing in favor of the mandates, New York Attorney General Leticia James had urged the court to reject the challenges because the public health emergency rule requiring vaccinations for certain workers in the healthcare sector was necessary to combat spread of Covid-19 which she warned could lead to a "vicious cycle of staff shortages and deterioration of patient care."
