By Dennis Romero - NBC News
A federal court in Texas on Saturday dismissed a lawsuit by 117 Houston Methodist Hospital employees who challenged the health facility's COVID-19 vaccination requirement.
Judge Lynn N. Hughes of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas said lead plaintiff,
Nurse Jennifer Bridges, and 116 other health facility employees who challenged the requirement had no argument. for demand
.
[Vaccination against COVID-19 among adolescents lags behind in the south and progresses in the northwest]
Houston Methodist Hospital was the first hospital system in the country to require all of its employees to be vaccinated.
The federal judge argued that federal law does not prevent employers from issuing such a mandate.
After months of warnings, the medical center had suspended more than 170 of its 26,000 employees without pay on Monday and warned them they would fire them if they weren't vaccinated by June 21.
Two people infected with COVID-19 are isolated in the first cruise that sailed from the US since the pandemic began
June 11, 202100: 35
The hospital had already let that it was not a bluff: It fired corporate risk director Bob Nevens and another manager in April when they missed the previous deadline for bosses.
The employees' attorney, Jared Woodfill, responded in a statement Saturday: "This is a battle within a larger war to protect the rights of employees not to be forced to participate in a vaccine trial as a condition of maintaining their job".
The lawyer said they would appeal to the United States Supreme Court "if necessary."
In recent weeks, other major hospitals have followed the lead of the Houston hospital, including the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Louisville, the New York Presbyterian, and several major hospitals in the Washington, DC area.
[The vast majority of myocarditis cases in young people vaccinated against COVID-19 have recovered]
Hughes addressed the plaintiffs' arguments one by one.
On the immunization requirement that violates due process, he wrote: "Texas does not recognize this exception of employee voluntariness."
On his argument that the requirement would force workers to break the law: "Receiving a COVID-19 vaccine is not an illegal act and does not carry criminal penalties."
A nurse picks up a patient from the Methodist Hospital parking lot in Houston, Texas, on June 28, 2020.REUTERS / Callaghan O'Hare
"She [Bridges] refuses to accept the vaccine that the hospital believes will make it safer for its workers and patients under the care of the medical center," Hughes wrote.
Sobre responded to their claim that they were being coerced: "This is not coercion. The hospital is trying to save lives without transmitting COVID-19. It is a decision that was made to keep staff, patients and their families safer." .
[FDA extends Johnson & Johnson vaccine validity due to danger of millions of doses expiring unused]
It also points to the plaintiffs' allegation that they are required to take an "unapproved" drug: "Federal law authorizes the Secretary of Health and Human Services to introduce medical products intended for use in an emergency into interstate commerce."
Hughes appears to delegitimize the plaintiffs, saying, for example, that their complaint was written "in the style of a press release."
The complainants "misinterpreted" the law and "misrepresented the facts" of the vaccination
, including that the requirement amounted to forced medical experimentation because coronavirus vaccines have received emergency clearance from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). in English), but not full approval.
These are the best places to go on vacation after the coronavirus pandemic
June 3, 202104: 21
The judge also raises a comparison with forced medical experiments in Nazi Germany.
"It is reprehensible to equate the injection requirement with medical experimentation in concentration camps," he wrote.
Houston Methodist Hospital Executive Director Marc Boom predicts that other health centers will soon join this initiative.
"We can put this behind us and continue our focus on unmatched safety, quality, service and innovation."
[Former National Security Adviser calls for the creation of a Congressional commission to investigate the origins of COVID-19]
Hughes concluded by saying that "the plaintiffs will not accept anything" from the hospital.
Bridges vowed not to give up, according to USA Today, and has started a petition on the sponsored petitions website change.org, which as of Saturday had collected more than 9,000 signatures, and an ad on crowdfunding platform GoFundMe to pay for the lawsuit with which he has already raised $ 130,000.
"I'm not surprised at all. It is a very large company and it is quite well protected in many areas. We knew it was going to be a great fight and we are prepared," he told USA Today.
With information from USA Today and NBC News.
