Utica, N.Y. — A federal judge Tuesday temporarily blocked New York state from enforcing a vaccine mandate on health care workers who seek or obtain a religious exemption.
Judge David Hurd in Utica issued the order after 17 health professionals, including doctors and nurses, argued in a lawsuit Monday that their Constitutional rights were violated with a vaccine mandate that disallowed the exemptions.
The judge gave New York state until Sept. 22 to respond to the lawsuit in federal court in Utica.
The state issued the order Aug. 28, requiring at least a first shot for health care workers at hospitals and nursing homes by Sept. 27.
“The vaccine mandate is suspended in operation to the extent that the (state Department of Health) is barred from enforcing any requirement that employers deny religious exemptions from COVID-19 vaccination or that they revoke any exemptions employers already granted before the vaccine mandate issued,” Hurd wrote in his decision.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.