NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti joined with 20 other states to ask the federal government to end a vaccine requirement for healthcare workers, and to withdraw guidance related to the requirement.
They said they are filing a Petition for Rulemaking with the Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to end the requirement. Their requirement was designed to work alongside other federal vaccine requirements, but many others were challenged in court or outright struck down.
According to a release from the Attorney General's office, CMS also has not consulted with the 21 states about the requirement. The other states involved are Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Wyoming.
The release also claimed that CMS sidestepped notice-and-comment rulemaking due to the speed of the Delta COVID-19 variant spread, and still has not fulfilled its obligations around a year later.