Press Releases

Today Congressman John James voted to terminate the COVID-19 vaccine mandate on health care workers and prevent the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services from enacting similar rules in the future. 

H.R. 497 ‘Freedom for Health Care Workers’ Act eliminates the one-size-fits-all federal vaccine mandate and allows hospitals, nursing homes, and other providers to safely staff their facilities without extra government hurdles. 

“Hard-working health care workers in my district and around the country have been wrongly forced to choose between their livelihoods and control over what is put into their bodies,” said James. “The healthcare worker shortage is real – and it’s long overdue we widen the pathway by pulling back government overreach like this one. Joe Biden said it himself back in September: the pandemic is over. Today I voted that we start acting like it.”

In July 2021, hundreds of health care workers protested the COVID vaccine mandate, including employees at Clinton Township’s Henry Ford Hospital. 

The Freedom for Health Care Workers Act passed the House by a vote of 227-203 with bipartisan support.

###