Federal Government To Wind Down Vaccination Mandates

On May 1, 2023, the White House announced that the federal government will wind down certain of its remaining COVID-19 vaccination mandates (including those for federal workers, contractors and international air travelers) effective May 11, 2023, which is the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE). The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will also "start the process" to end the vaccination requirements for Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) certified healthcare facilities. Also on May 1, CMS issued a QSO Memo containing wide-reaching guidance pertaining to the end of the PHE, which indicated that further information regarding the end of the CMS COVID-19 vaccination mandate would be forthcoming after the PHE has expired. As the process and timeline for winding down the CMS vaccination mandate has not yet been released, and it is unclear how quickly it will take effect and how elimination of the mandate will impact the many CMS