Head Start Vaccine and Mask Requirements
Blocked in 25 States

January 3, 2022

Federal courts have blocked the implementation and enforcement of the Interim Final Rule on Vaccine and Mask Requirements To Mitigate the Spread of COVID-19 in Head Start Programs (the Rule) in the following 25 states:

Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

The two courts that issued the decisions blocking the Rule were the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas and the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana. By granting the respective states’ requests for a preliminary injunction, enforcement of the Rule will be temporarily delayed until the courts have an opportunity to decide on the merits of the cases.

The Office of Head Start has clarified that Head Start, Early Head Start, and Early Head Start-Child Care Partnership grant recipients in the above states are not required to comply with the Rule pending future developments in the litigation. Note, however, that the OSHA vaccine-or-test and mask mandates that apply to employers with 100 or more employees remain in effect pending review by the U.S. Supreme Court. CAAs in states covered by the Head Start injunction should continue to prepare for implementation of the Rule by reviewing the steps in CAPLAW’s Vaccine Mandate Compliance Guide and considering a policy reflecting the requirements of applicable vaccine and mask mandates. CAPLAW will continue to monitor developments related to this litigation and provide updates to the network as necessary.

This news flash is part of the Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) Legal Training and Technical Assistance (T/TA) Center. It was created by Community Action Program Legal Services, Inc. (CAPLAW) in the performance of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Community Services Cooperative Agreement – Award Number 90ET0467-03-C3. Any opinion, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families.

The contents of this news flash are intended to convey general information only and do not constitute legal advice. Any communication through this publication or through CAPLAW’s website does not constitute or create an attorney-client relationship. If you need legal advice, please contact CAPLAW or another attorney directly.