A trial is underway in federal court in Missoula to decide whether a law banning vaccination status discrimination can apply to health care providers.
Several physicians, patients, the Montana Medical Association and the Montana Nurses’ Association sued the state last year over the law that Republicans passed during the 2021 legislative session. It prohibits employers from treating employees differently based on vaccine status, or from requiring immunizations.
The plaintiffs argue that requiring vaccinations in health care settings protects patients, and that the law could mean providers lose federal funding. The Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services requires health care workers to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Last spring, federal U.S. District Court Judge Donald Molloy temporarily blocked the law as it applies to facilities that receive federal funding as long as the federal rule is in place, or until the lawsuit receives a final ruling.
Molloy is presiding over the trial now playing out in Missoula.
