Turning down a request from Florida, a full federal appeals court will not jump into a fight about a Biden administration rule that would require health care workers to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
Pensacola-based U.S. District Judge Casey Rodgers in November rejected Florida’s request for a preliminary injunction against the rule, and a panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals also refused to halt it.
That spurred Florida to ask the full appeals court to take up the issue — a request known as seeking an “en banc” hearing. But the Atlanta-based appeals court issued a one-page order Tuesday denying the request.
The order came four days after the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in a challenge to the rule from other parts of the country.
The vaccination requirement, issued in early November, would apply to workers at hospitals, nursing homes and other health-care providers that participate in the Medicare and Medicaid programs.
Attorney General Ashley Moody’s office has argued that the rule violates federal laws and would worsen staffing problems at health-care facilities, including state-run facilities such as veterans’ nursing homes.