The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), in a policy reversal, announced on Dec. 28 that it would start enforcing its COVID-19 vaccine mandate to facilities in half the U.S. states, where the mandate hasn’t been judicially enjoined.
CMS modified the compliance dates for the vaccine mandates. Facilities that receive Medicaid or Medicare funding must comply with the mandate’s first phase, meaning that all health care staff has to have received the first dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, or the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine by Jan. 27, 2022—or 30 days after the CMS memorandum (pdf) was issued.
