More than 180 Minnesota health care workers from across the state filed a lawsuit against the COVID-19 vaccine mandate, seeking an injunction to prevent the upcoming rule.
According to the Star Tribune, the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court on behalf of unnamed plaintiffs, seeks an injunction, claiming that such policies violate religious freedom and other state and federal laws.
One of the plaintiffs’ lawyers told the Star Tribune that his clients want to remain anonymous because there is “pressure to get vaccinated.”
Plaintiffs include those who have contracted COVID-19 and now have antibodies, as well as those who have a current religious exemption, those who have a pending religious exemption, and pregnant employees.
The vaccine mandate, according to the lawsuit, violates Minn. Stat. 12.39, which states that “individuals have a fundamental right to refuse medical treatment, testing, physical or mental examination, vaccination, participation in experimental procedures and protocols…”
The Minnesota lawsuit is one of several legal challenges brought by health-care workers in response to vaccine mandates.
“You’re talking about people who held the hand of people dying of COVID,” attorney Greg Erickson reportedly told Minnesota Public Radio. “These folks risked their lives to help these patients and now they’re being terminated because their religious beliefs won’t allow them to take the vaccine? It’s really sad.”
