Providers challenge only US law banning vaccine mandates

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Medical providers and Montana residents with compromised immune systems are challenging the only law in the U.S. that prevents employers from mandating workers get vaccinated amid a surge of COVID-19 infections.

They argue the new law violates federal requirements for safe workplaces and reasonable accommodations for people with disabilities and want a federal judge to rule that it doesn’t apply to hospitals and other medical providers.

The Montana Medical Association, private physician groups, a Missoula hospital and seven individuals filed the complaint in U.S. District Court in Missoula on Wednesday, arguing the law inhibits providers’ ability to “practice ethical and effective medicine” by requiring them to employ unvaccinated workers who are more likely to spread infections and diseases than vaccinated workers.

The law — which applies to all vaccinations — prevents medical providers from complying “with national standards for the care and treatment of patients, including observing and enforcing infectious disease prevention protocols,” the complaint says.

“The Montana Medical Association is joining this lawsuit to restore a physician’s ability to protect the safety of their vulnerable patients when providing needed medical services," the group said in a statement.

Montana’s Republican-controlled Legislature passed the law this year that says requiring vaccines as a condition of employment is discriminatory and violates the state’s human rights laws.

Supporters said the law was needed in response to employers coercing employees to get vaccinations under the threat of losing their jobs.

This month, President Joe Biden asked the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to write a rule requiring employers with at least 100 workers to...