Supreme Court shuts down request to let Massachusetts hospital staff sidestep vaccine mandate

• The Supreme Court blocked a request to let Massachusetts hospital staff sidestep a vaccine mandate.
• Employees of Mass General Brigham claimed a November 5 mandate violated their religious beliefs.

The Supreme Court on Monday blocked a request to let staff at a Massachusetts hospital sidestep a vaccine mandate for religious reasons.

Eight former and current employees at Mass General Brigham filed the request last week with Justice Stephen Breyer, who oversees the circuit where the request was filed, according to court documents reviewed by Insider.

Breyer denied the request with a one-line summary.

The current and former hospital employees had claimed that the mandate, which ordered the hospital's 80,000 employers to get vaccinated against COVID-19 by November 5, violated religious beliefs or placed them "in significant physical or mental danger," court documents show.

The employees said in court documents that those who didn't comply with the vaccine mandate deadline faced being fired by the hospital, the state's largest private employer.

Ultimately, six of the employees who filed the request were fired, one resigned, and another got vaccinated so they could stay employed, local news station WBUR reported.

Vaccine mandates have been the target of various lawsuits filed in recent months as states and individuals in healthcare push back on COVID-19 mitigation efforts.

On Monday, a federal judge temporarily blocked the Biden administration from mandating vaccines for healthcare workers in 10 states.

The 10 states had earlier sued the administration, claiming that a vaccine mandate was unconstitutional.

Lawyers for the hospital employees and Mass General Brigham could not be immediately reached by Insider for comment.