WRFA-LP 107.9 FM

A listener supported, non-commercial, low power FM radio station in Jamestown, NY.


Stream WRFA

  • Home
  • News
    • Local News
    • WRFA Election Coverage 2024
    • Local Arts and Entertainment
    • Station News and Events
    • Audio Posts
    • Video
  • Listen
  • Programming Guide
    • Interactive Schedule
    • I Remember
    • YWCA Jamestown Broadscast
    • Arts on Fire LIVE
  • Local Shows
    • Alex’s Variety Hour
    • Arts on Fire
    • Arts on Fire LIVE
    • Chautauqua Lectures
    • Chautauqua Sunrise with Doc Hamels
    • Community Matters
    • Da Platform
    • Da Unwind
    • Diamond Run Radio
    • The Latin Inspiration
    • Local Rush Hour
    • Power Chord Hour
    • Remembering Rock n Roll
    • Small Things Considered
    • Stormin Norman’s Prime Time Sports Show
    • The Swedish Hour
    • Third Street Garage
    • YWCA Jamestown Broadscast
  • Audio Vault
  • About
    • Join the WRFA Team
    • E-Newsletter Sign Up
  • Donate
    • WRFA Supporters
  • Contact
You are here: Home / News / Local News / Federal Judge Blocks Medical Worker Vaccine Mandate in NYS

Federal Judge Blocks Medical Worker Vaccine Mandate in NYS

September 15, 2021 By WRFA Radio Leave a Comment

A federal judge has temporarily blocked New York State from forcing medical workers to be vaccinated after a group of health care workers sued, saying their Constitutional rights were violated because the state’s mandate disallowed religious exemptions.

The Associated Press reports Judge David Hurd in Utica issued the order after 17 health professionals, including doctors and nurses, claimed in a lawsuit Monday that their rights were violated with a vaccine mandate that disallowed the exemptions.

The judge gave New York state until September 22nd to respond to the lawsuit in federal court in Utica. If the state opposes the plaintiffs’ request for a preliminary court order blocking the vaccine mandate, a September 28th oral hearing will occur.

The state issued the order August 28th, requiring at least a first shot for health care workers at hospitals and nursing homes by September 27th.

In their lawsuit, health care professionals cited violations of the U.S. Constitution, along with the New York State Human Rights Law and New York City Human Rights Law, because the state Department of Health regulation requiring workers to get the vaccine provided no exemption for “sincere religious beliefs that compel the refusal of such vaccination.”

The court papers said all of the available vaccines employ aborted fetus cell lines in their testing, development or production.

The lawsuit said the plaintiffs wanted to proceed anonymously because they “run the risk of ostracization, threats of harm, immediate firing and other retaliatory consequences if their names become known.”

The plaintiffs, all Christians, included practicing doctors, nurses, a nuclear medicine technologist, a cognitive rehabilitation therapist and a physician’s liaison who all oppose as a matter of religious conviction any medical cooperation in abortion.

It added that they are not “anti-vaxxers” who oppose all vaccines.

Messages seeking comment were sent to lawyers for the Thomas More Society who filed the lawsuit, the New York state health department and the New York’s governor’s office. The state attorney general’s office referred questions to the health department.

The state says it’s considering all legal options.

State Senator George Borrello issued a statement saying the judge’s order is a positive step toward what he hopes is the impetus for the state to withdraw the mandate altogether. He said whether “the objections are religious, medical or personal, no one should be forced to take a vaccine against their will. The right path to vaccination is by building consensus and confidence, not through coercion, shaming and threats of termination.”

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
  • Click to share on Bluesky (Opens in new window) Bluesky
  • Click to share on Threads (Opens in new window) Threads
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest
  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window) Pocket
  • Click to print (Opens in new window) Print

Filed Under: Local News Tagged With: COVID-19 Vaccination, George Borrello

Donate to WRFA and help support Community Radio in Jamestown, NY.

Leave a ReplyCancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Licensed by Reg Lenna Center for the Arts

Donate

On Air Now

  • Community Matters
    with
Stream WRFA

Corporate Support

Donate to WRFA
Donate to WRFA

Recent News

  • Sen. Schumer Says Trump’s Plan To Claw Back CPB Funding Would Devastate Communities
  • NYS Veterans Tuition Awards Program Expanded
  • United Way Accepting Nominations For Joseph H. Mason Award
WRFA LP 107.9 FM is licensed by the Reg Lenna Center for the Arts in Jamestown, NY.

Copyright © 2025 WRFALP.com 107.9 FM

 

Loading Comments...