The Justice Department reportedly asked the Supreme Court to reinstate a federal vaccine mandate for some healthcare workers

• The Justice Department asked the Supreme Court to reinstate a vaccine mandate on some federal healthcare workers.
• The policy would apply to more than 10.3 million healthcare staffers at certain providers that participate in Medicare and Medicaid.

The Justice Department asked the Supreme Court to reinstate a vaccine mandate for federal healthcare workers nationwide as the US braces for a surge in infections due to the spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant, CNN and Bloomberg Law reported Thursday.

The policy would apply to healthcare workers at certain providers that participate in Medicare and Medicaid, which would impact more than 10.3 million staffers in the US, CNN reported.

In a filing, Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, who is tasked with litigating the interests of the government before the Supreme Court, made the request of the justices to weigh in on the federal mandate.

She said Health and Human Services Sec. Xavier Becerra "exercised his express statutory authority to protect the health and safety of Medicare and Medicaid patients by requiring healthcare facilities that choose to participate in those programs to ensure that their staff are vaccinated (subject to medical and religious exemptions)."

Prelogar added that reinstating the vaccine policy will "save hundreds or even thousands of lives each month."

The request from the Justice Department comes after lower courts have blocked the federal vaccine mandate for healthcare workers in several US states.