A federal judge ruled Friday that a health care provider serving the Northern Kentucky and Greater Cincinnati region can issue mandates requiring its more than 10,000 employees to get vaccinated or risk termination.
Stay on top of the latest market trends and economic insights with Axios Markets.St. Elizabeth Healthcare employees failed to show that the hospital operator's vaccine requirement violates individual liberties, U.S. District Court Judge David BunningBecause the operator retains the right to set terms for employment, the mandate holds, Bunning said.
Citing a 1905 U.S. Supreme Court decision that upheld a Massachusetts smallpox vaccination mandate, Bunning noted that "[a]ctual liberty for all of us cannot exist where individual liberties override potential injury done to others.
"This is great news for St. Elizabeth patients, for St. Elizabeth associates and for our whole community," Guilfoyle said. "This mandate is going to help reduce community spread, and it's going to help keep people out of the hospital, which is already stressed.". "We lost here, which we thought was our strongest chance at winning, so that has to be factored in on what we do from here.