A US judge has thrown out a lawsuit by more than 100 employees of one of Texas's largest hospitals, who sued after being required to get vaccinated against Covid-19. They argued Houston Methodist Hospital's demand was illegal so long as the available shots have received only emergency use authorization from US health authorities though that authorization has cleared the way for millions of Americans to be vaccinated. The hospital set a June 7.
A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit over a hospital system's COVID-19 vaccine requirement, and she did it in more than one sense of the word. The lawsuit from 117 employees of hospitals in Houston, Texas had sued because they did not want to be required to take these new vaccines, but in making this argument, the complaint compared the requirement to experiments under Nazi Germany. Judge Lynn N. Hughes of the Southern District of Texas scoffed.
Employees at Houston Methodist who are unwilling to get the shot say the vaccines are unsafe and even "experimental." The hospital system's CEO says they're spouting "anti-vaccination rhetoric."
"The plaintiffs are not just jeopardizing their own health; they are jeopardizing the health of doctors, nurses, support staff, patients and their families," a judge said. The lead plaintiff "can freely choose to accept or refuse a COVID-19 vaccine; however if she refuses she will simply need to work somewhere else," he later wrote.