Press Releases

U.S. Representative Earl L. "Buddy" Carter is continuing his fight against President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate, warning it could exacerbate workforce shortages at hospitals and nursing homes.  

In letter to President Biden, Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Chiquita Brookes, Carter and more than 40 House Republicans raised serious concerns over the practicality, efficacy, and morality of a COVID-19 vaccination mandate for staff within all Medicare and Medicaid-certified facilities.

"This is America; nobody should have to choose between freely making their own medical decisions and losing their job," said Carter. "That is just as true for the health care workers who showed up to work every day during the uncertainty and chaos of the early pandemic to help bring this country through it. Joe Biden imposing his will and judgment on the private decisions of a free people is nothing short of dictatorial, and I will fight for health care workers and all other Americans in this attack on medical freedom and privacy."

On September 9, the Biden Administration directed the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to develop a vaccine mandate that will affect virtually all health care employees in the country. Many health care providers are already facing capacity limits and are having difficulty maintaining staff.

Several states are already nearing or exceeding hospital capacity, and many Medicare and Medicaid providers, especially nursing homes, are struggling to hire and retain enough employees to comply with state and federal staffing requirements.

Read the full letter, led by Congressman Jeff Duncan (R-SC), here.