Maine’s highest court has ruled a state board overseeing emergency medical service workers had the authority to impose a COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
That decision from the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, released Thursday, upheld a Superior Court judge’s decision to dismiss a lawsuit brought against the Maine EMS Board.
A group of EMS workers had sued the board claiming it lacked the authority to impose a mandate requiring COVID-19 and influenza vaccines.
The EMS board issued a rule requiring most workers it oversees to be vaccinated against COVID-19 in August 2021. Nearly 97 percent of the state’s EMS workers were vaccinated against COVID-19 before the deadline on Oct. 15, 2021.
That followed a decision from the Maine Department of Health and Human Services to require COVID-19 vaccines for health care workers, though that later exempted dental offices and EMS workers, who were covered under the EMS board’s subsequent vaccine rule.
The modified vaccine mandate survived numerous lawsuits and was ultimately upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.
The state, in September 2023, reversed course and lifted the vaccine mandate for health care workers, though still requiring vaccinations against other diseases such as measles, mumps and tuberculosis.
In taking up the EMS workers’ appeal of the July 2023 decision dismissing their lawsuit, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court determined the Legislature delegated rulemaking authority to the EMS Board, which acted within its statutory authority to ensure the “safe handling and transportation” of patients, including not exposing them to “certain communicable diseases” like COVID-19.
“[T]here is nothing in the complaint or record before the court suggesting that the EMS Board did not comply with its rulemaking obligations,” the justices wrote.