Vaccine Mandate

A panel of the 5th District Court of Appeal upheld an Orange County circuit judge’s dismissal of a lawsuit in which bars sought damages for what is known as “inverse condemnation.”

Hospitals in the region say most of their staff have received COVID-19 vaccines.

The requirements will start to take effect Thursday in Florida.

Hospitals are grappling with what to do, since federal and state law are at odds, and both carry financial penalties for non-compliance.

The U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments Jan. 7 in cases from other parts of the country about the legality of the requirement, but it is not clear when justices will rule.

Florida is one of numerous states that have challenged the contractor requirement, with a federal judge in Georgia this month issuing a nationwide injunction against the requirement.

The high court’s announcement that it will hear arguments in the cases Jan. 7 comes amid rising coronavirus cases and is an extraordinarily fast timeline.

According to the lawsuit, the mandate forces vaccinations on staff, volunteers and others in contact with Head Start preschool students and forces masks on everyone age 2 and older. .