Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/21pdf/21a240_d18e.pdf
Page Number: 7

Cite as:  595 U. S. ____ (2022) 

7 

Per Curiam 

longstanding  litany  of  health-related  participation  condi-
tions.  When asked at oral argument whether the Secretary
could,  using  the  very  same  statutory  authorities  at  issue
here, require hospital employees to wear gloves, sterilize in-
struments, wash their hands in a certain way and at certain
intervals, and the like, Missouri answered yes: “[T]he Sec-
retary certainly has authority to implement all kinds of in-
fection control measures at these facilities.”  Tr. of Oral Arg.
57–58.  Of  course  the  vaccine  mandate  goes  further  than
what the Secretary has done in the past to implement in-
fection control.  But he has never had to address an infec-
tion problem of this scale and scope before.  In any event, 
there can be no doubt that addressing infection problems in 
Medicare and Medicaid facilities is what he does. 

And his response is not a surprising one.  Vaccination re-
quirements  are  a  common  feature  of  the  provision  of 
healthcare  in  America:  Healthcare  workers  around  the 
country  are  ordinarily  required  to  be  vaccinated  for  dis-
eases such as hepatitis B, influenza, and measles, mumps, 
and  rubella.    CDC,  State  Healthcare  Worker  and  Patient 
Vaccination  Laws  (Feb.  28,  2018),  https://www.cdc.gov/
phlp/publications/topic/vaccinationlaws.html.    As  the  Sec-
retary explained, these pre-existing state requirements are 
a major reason the agency has not previously adopted vac-
cine mandates as a condition of participation.  86 Fed. Reg.
61567–61568. 

All  this  is  perhaps  why  healthcare  workers  and  public-
health  organizations  overwhelmingly  support  the  Secre-
tary’s  rule.    See  id.,  at  61565–61566;  see  also  Brief  for 
American  Medical  Assn.  et al.  as  Amici  Curiae;  Brief  for 
American Public Health Assn. et al. as Amici Curiae; Brief 
for  Secretaries  of  Health  and  Human  Services  et al.  as 
Amici  Curiae.  Indeed,  their  support  suggests  that  a  vac-
cination  requirement  under  these  circumstances  is  a 
straightforward and predictable example of the “health and