By Dan Whitcomb

(Reuters] – Thursday’s request by the Biden administration to the U.S. Supreme Court for a stay of the two lower court decisions that placed the President’s COVID-19 vaccination mandate for healthcare workers under suspension was made. The Biden administration claimed that the shots are crucial in order to prevent an anticipated winter surge in vaccine cases.

These rulings came as part of legal challenges against President Joe Biden’s directives to healthcare workers who treat Medicare patients and Medicaid patients. In the beginning, more than 2,000,000 healthcare workers were required to get vaccinated before Dec. 6.

In a 40-page motion, Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar stated that “the extremely urgent need to decrease the risk of COVID-19 Exposure for Medicare and Medicaid Patients given the expected winter surge in infection tips the equities in favor of an stay.”

    The mandate has been blocked for now in 24 states – 14 involved in a case reviewed by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, New Orleans; 10 in St. Louis. A Nov. 29 ruling from a federal judge halted the mandate.    

5th Circuit ruled that the Biden administration did not make a convincing case during the litigation that the rule is enforceable.

   In November, the 5th Circuit blocked the administration’s workplace vaccine-or-testing mandate for businesses with at least 100 employees.

   That rule, issued by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), is being reviewed by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals of Cincinnati.

On Wednesday, Cincinnati’s 6th Circuit sided in favor of the Biden administration and agreed to hear it first before a trio of judges rather than 16 other active judges.