Becker's Clinical Quality & Infection Control

9 INFECTION CONTROL Lawsuit over Houston Methodist's COVID-19 vaccine mandate dismissed By Kelly Gooch A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit brought by employees of Houston Methodist over the health system's COVID-19 vaccination mandate for workers, marking the first decision of its kind by a court regarding such a require- ment at a health system. e lawsuit, filed May 28 by Jennifer Bridges, RN, and 116 other workers, argued that the mandate is illegal and forces workers to get an experimental vaccine to keep their jobs. But U.S. District Judge Lynn Hughes ruled June 12 that the health system did not vio- late state or federal law or public policy with its requirement. "is is not coercion. Methodist is trying to do their business of saving lives without giv- ing them the COVID-19 virus," Mr. Hughes wrote in the ruling, which was shared with Becker's. "It is a choice made to keep staff, patients and their families safer." Houston Methodist, which comprises an academic medical center and six commu- nity hospitals, was the first large, integrated health system to implement a vaccination mandate for employees. Houston Methodist rolled out its mandatory vaccination policy March 31, with April 15 as the deadline for managers to receive at least one dose or get an exemption. More than 99 percent of the management team had com- plied by that deadline. By June 7, all 26,000 employees were required to comply. ose who are not in compliance will receive a two- week suspension. Houston Methodist said if workers do not comply by June 21, it would "initiate the employee termination process," according to e New York Times. Houston Methodist President and CEO Marc Boom, MD, reported nearly 100 percent com- pliance as of June 8. A total of 153 employees either resigned during a two-week suspen- sion period or were terminated June 22 for not complying with the vaccine mandage, a spokesperson confirmed with Becker's. e mandate has sparked pushback from some employees, who argued that the COVID-19 vaccines are "experimental and dangerous" and that Houston Methodist's requirement forces workers to serve as human guinea pigs. "If we don't stop this now and do some kind of change, everybody's just going to topple," Ms. Bridges told local news station ABC13 at a protest earlier in June. "It's going to create a domino effect. Everybody across the nation is going to be forced to get things into their body that they don't want and that's not right." In his ruling, Mr. Hughes rejected employ- ees' claims that the vaccine requirement vio- lates the Nuremberg Code, a medical ethics code for human experimentation draed in 1947 because of the Nuremberg trials at the end of World War II. He also rejected claims the vaccines are "experimental and danger- ous." He said, "Texas law only protects em- ployees from being terminated for refusing to commit an act carrying criminal penalties to the worker." He also wrote that "receiving a COVID-19 vaccination is not an illegal act, and it carries no criminal penalties." Jared Woodfill, the plaintiffs' attorney and conservative activist who filed the lawsuit, told NPR his clients are not done "fighting this unjust policy" and are committed to an appeal. Dr. Boom said in a statement: "We can now put this behind us and continue our focus on unparalleled safety, quality, service and innovation. All our employees have now met the requirements of the vaccine policy and I couldn't be prouder of them. Our employ- ees and physicians made their decisions for our patients, who are always at the center of everything we do. ey have fulfilled their sacred obligation as healthcare workers, and we couldn't ask for a more dedicated, caring and talented team." n Hepatitis infections spike in recent years, CDC finds By Erica Carbajal H epatitis A and C infections in the U.S. rose from 2015-19, according to the CDC's 2019 viral hepa- titis surveillance report published May 19. While 18,846 cases of hepatitis A — spread by fecal-oral transmission — were reported in 2019, the CDC estimates the actual number of infections to be nearly 38,000, based on adjustments to account for unreported cases and other factors. That marked a 1,325 percent increase in the rate of cases per 100,000 population, which rose from 0.4 cases per 100,000 in 2015, to 5.7 in 2019. Hepatitis C infections, spread through blood, also in- creased in 2019, with 4,136 reported cases. The CDC esti- mates the actual number of infections to be 57,500. In 2015, there were 0.8 cases per 100,000 based on re- ported cases, rising to 1.3 cases per 100,000 in 2019 — a 63 percent increase. Injection drug use largely drove both outbreaks, accord- ing to the CDC. Cases of hepatitis B have remained mostly stable between 2010 and 2019, the CDC said. In 2019, there were 3,192 reported cases of acute hepatitis B, translating to 20,700 estimated infections. n

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