A federal appeals court has nixed religious exemptions to New York’s vaccine mandate for healthcare workers, vacating a temporary injunction and sending two cases back down to the lower courts. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld the state’s sweeping vaccine mandate, despite challenges from two groups of nurses and other healthcare workers. Gov. Kathy Hochul praised the court for “affirming our first-in-the-nation vaccine mandate” that she said is intended to “keep New Yorkers safe.”

Cameron Atkinson, an attorney for three nurses who challenged the mandate, said he believed the Supreme Court would fall on their side. “New York’s mandate forces an abominable choice on New York healthcare workers: abandon their faith or lose their careers,” he said. “They have committed their futures to God’s hands, and we remain optimistic that the United States Supreme Court will strike down New York's discriminatory mandate as violating the First Amendment.”