A federal judge has granted a preliminary injunction that will allow New York health care workers to apply for religious exemptions to the state COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
US District Judge David Hurd made the ruling on Tuesday after 17 Catholic and Baptist health care workers sued the state last month, saying they objected to being forced to take a vaccine that used 'fetal cell lines' from 'procured abortions'.
The order prohibits the New York State Department of Health from interfering with religious exemptions or taking disciplinary action against workers who have sought or obtained them.
Gov. Kathy Hochul, responding to the order, said she backs the vaccine mandate, whose original deadline was September 27, with the state's 450,000 medical and care staff expected to have received at least one vaccine dose by that date.
'My responsibility as Governor is to protect the people of this state, and requiring health care workers to get vaccinated accomplishes that. I stand behind this mandate, and I will fight this decision in court to keep New Yorkers safe,' she wrote in a statement.
US District Judge David Hurd (pictured) has granted a preliminary injunction that will allow New York health care workers to apply for religious exemptions to the state's COVID-19 vaccine mandate
According to the injunction, which was obtained by CNN, the state health department is 'barred from interfering in any way with the granting of religious exemptions from COVID-19 vaccination going forward, or with the operation of exemptions already granted.'
The organization is also prohibited from taking any action on licenses, certifications, residency or other professional status for workers who seek or have obtained religious exemptions to the vaccine mandate.
Christopher Ferrara, the lead counsel for plaintiffs in the case applauded the judge's ruling.
'With this decision the court rightly recognized that yesterday's 'front line heroes' in dealing with COVID cannot suddenly be treated as disease-carrying villains and kicked to the curb by the command of a state health bureaucracy,' he said in a statement obtained by the news outlet.
The state health department on Aug. 26 ordered healthcare professionals to be vaccinated against coronavirus by Sept. 27. The order did not allow for the customary religious exemptions.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul issued a statement Tuesday arguing in saying she backs the vaccine mandate
Gov. Kathy Hochul said: 'My responsibility as Governor is to protect the people of this state, and requiring health care workers to get vaccinated accomplishes that. I stand behind this mandate, and I will fight this decision in court to keep New Yorkers safe'
The plan was challenged by a group of 17 healthcare workers — all Christians and many of whom were unnamed doctors, residents and nurses — who said they opposed COVID-19 vaccines because some were developed from cell lines which were originally taken from aborted fetuses.
Figures released earlier this week showed that 92 per cent of NY hospital staff had received at least one COVID vaccine dose.
Dr. Elizabeth Rausch-Phung, medical director of the Bureau of Immunization at the New York State Department of Health, confirmed the claim in an affidavit.
'In sum, while none of the FDA approved Covid-19 vaccines contain any fetal cells, fetal cell lines were only 'used in testing during research and development of
