DELMARVA--Local hospitals and officials on Delmarva expressed mixed feelings Friday following the Supreme Court rulings on the COVID-19 vaccine mandates.
The Supreme Court's conservative majority agreed Thursday that President Joe Biden overstepped his authority by requiring workers in companies and agencies with more than 100 employees to be vaccinated or tested regularly; though the mandate is being enforced for healthcare workers in facilities participating in Medicare and/or Medicaid.
Beebe Healthcare said it's currently reviewing details and internal policies as it plans to uphold the requirement.
On behalf of Bayhealth, VP of Marketing & Communications Kevin Snyder, issued a statement to WRDE saying, "Bayhealth will continue to comply with the state and federal vaccine mandates as we have done so throughout the pandemic. Additionally, we continue to urge all our employees to be vaccinated. Bayhealth is making vaccines available to our dedicated staff daily. We remain grateful for our team of caregivers and physicians who have been on the frontlines of this pandemic since day one.”
On the other hand, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan expressed his opposition to the mandates on Twitter early Friday saying:
"While we should all agree on the urgent need to get more people vaccinated, broad mandates have never been the right way to do it. Maryland has one of the highest vaccination rates in America without mandates. We will continue that successful approach."
According to the Biden administration, the vaccine mandate that is now being enforced will affect about 17 million healthcare workers at 76,000 facilities.
Some opponents to the mandate said the new requirement is only bound to hurt already understaffed hospitals.
As for the business vaccine-or-test mandate, it is unknown when the lower court is set to review it.