Tennessee Republicans are continuing the fight against vaccine mandates, especially for healthcare workers and those in the military.
Covid vaccine mandates began to roll out in September 2021, the first for federal contractors. A mandate came a month later for healthcare workers at facilities participating in Medicaid and Medicare programs. Another mandate came in November 2021 for Head Start employees and for employees of private-sector companies.
Lawsuits for each of these moves began almost as soon as they were announced. Tennessee GOP leaders either joined the fight or led the way on them all, citing “constitutional concerns about these mandates.” Some of the lawsuits prevailed, removing mandates for private employees and Head Start workers. But the GOP continues to remind about and fight the mandates, even though they are a thing of the past for most.
This week Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti joined a coalition of 21 states to request that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) repeal the “unlawful federal vaccine mandate“ for healthcare workers.
“Evidence continues to mount that the ongoing mandate is an unprecedented overreach of the federal government and has exacerbated shortages of healthcare workers in Tennessee and other states,” Skrmetti said in a statement. “This office will relentlessly protect Tennesseans from federal overreach.”
Skrmetti accused CMS of using the spread of the Delta variant of the Covid virus “to sidestep both notice-and-comment rulemaking” and obligations to consult with state agencies on the “unprecedented” vaccine requirement for healthcare workers. He said CMS has still not consulted the state about the situation after nearly a year.
He said the mandate now “only serves to exacerbate the shortage of healthcare workers and put vulnerable Tennesseans at risk.” Further, the mandates encroached on states’ “traditional police power” without authorization from Congress and “exceeded its authority.”
Tennessee is joined in the request with attorneys general from Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Wyoming.
Meanwhile, U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee) threw heat at the Biden Administration over military vaccine mandates and slipping in a catchphrase from television game show host Donald Trump.
“President [Joe] Biden said it himself: the pandemic is over,” Blackburn said in a statement Monday. “So, why is his Department of Defense (DOD) willing to look at the brave men and women who volunteered to serve our nation and say ‘you’re fired’ all because they chose not to get the Covid shot?”
Blackburn said U.S. military recruitment “has reached an all time low.” Every branch of the military has struggled to meet its recruitment goals, she said, and is facing a troop deficit of 21,000 next year. Blackburn said the National Guard will be down by about 12,000 recruits next year and expects to discharge up for 14,000 by 2024 for refusing the Covid shot.
Blackburn warned that the U.S. is depleting its armed forces, especially with a vaccine mandate that she called a “shameful waste of talented manpower,” while a “New Axis of Evil” — China, Russia, and North Korea — “grows bolder by the day.”
“Now is not the time to drag our service members into a political battle,” Blackburn said. “Now is the time to bolster our national defense. The New Axis of Evil is threatening the safety and security of the United States and our freedom-loving partners across the globe, and our military must remain ready to respond.”
