New York repeals healthcare worker vaccine mandate amid pandemic shifts

On June 25, 2026, the Supreme Court declined to take up a challenge to New York’s healthcare-worker vaccine mandate, leaving intact the state’s decision to wind down the rule after the pandemic emergency had eased. The court turned away the case, ending a dispute that began when New York ordered hospital, nursing home, adult care facility and other congregate-care workers to be vaccinated against COVID-19.

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced the mandate on August 16, 2021, setting a Monday, September 27 deadline and allowing only limited medical and religious exceptions. At the time, new daily COVID-19 positives in New York were up more than 1,000 percent over the prior six weeks, and more than 80 percent of recent positives were tied to the Delta variant. Roughly 75 percent of its 450,000 hospital workers, 74 percent of about 30,000 adult care facility workers and 68 percent of about 145,500 nursing home workers had already completed their vaccine series.

The New York State Department of Health aimed the policy at slowing spread inside medical facilities and nursing homes, and it drew a line against blanket religious exemptions. On May 24, 2023, it began repealing the healthcare-worker vaccine requirement because of the changing pandemic landscape and evolving vaccine recommendations, and it would not begin any new enforcement actions while the repeal was pending approval.

The lawsuit before the justices was brought by unnamed healthcare workers who were fired after seeking religious exemptions they believed their sincerely held beliefs required. They sued Governor Kathy Hochul, state health officials, New York-Presbyterian Healthcare System, Trinity Health and Westchester Medical Center Advanced Physician Services, arguing that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act required religious accommodations unless they imposed an undue hardship. A federal district court dismissed the case, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit upheld that ruling in December 2024.

The petition for review was filed on March 20, 2025 and docketed as No. 24-1015 on March 24, 2025. The Supreme Court later invited the solicitor general to file a brief on December 8, 2025, then declined to hear the case. The refusal leaves in place the 2nd Circuit’s decision.