Hospitals in Montana and Idaho reported threats and harassment from public officials and family members of patients who were denied treatment with a drug not authorized to treat COVID-19.
Missoula's Community Medical Center was placed on lockdown and police were called on Nov. 17 after a woman reportedly threatened violence over how her relative was being treated.
The mandate handed down from President Joe Biden would have required employees at healthcare facilities that receive funding from Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services would have had to have their first shot by next Monday.
A hospital network northwest Montana is among the many health care systems in the state that will follow a federal rule requiring staff to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Hospitals that don’t comply could lose federal funding.