Gov. Ivey joins lawsuit against federal vaccine mandates

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WAFF) - Governor Kay Ivey has added her name to the growing list of states opposing federal vaccine mandates.

In a press release, Gov. Ivey said the lawsuit challenges the “outrageous, overreaching Biden vaccine mandates”. Gov. Ivey recently signed an executive order forbidding state agencies from enforcing the federal vaccine mandate. However, the order does nothing for federal employees in the state.

“I have joined a lawsuit to fight back against the outrageous, overreaching Biden vaccine mandates. From the moment the White House tried to force this vaccine on to Americans, I have said that Alabama is standing strong against it and that the best way to stop this is to go to the courts,” Ivey said in the release. I am proud to take this important step and join Georgia and other states to pursue the most effective legal path to stop this vaccine mandate dead in its tracks. Alabamians are overwhelmingly against these egregious, overreaching federal mandates, and I stand firmly with them.”

Alabama makes the eighth state to add its name to the lawsuit. The lawsuit states that the mandate will harm the state’s sovereign and proprietary interests. It also states that the mandate would require state entities to break Alabama law since the mandate would require them to release immunization records to the federal government. Alabama lawmakers passed Senate Bill 267 in May banning the release of vaccine records to the federal government.

The lawsuit continues, stating that state universities would also be harmed. The reason given in the documents is many public universities would lose federal contractor funds on short notice. The two largest public universities in Alabama, the University of Alabama and Auburn University, have both mandated vaccines for all school employees. This means that they would not lose federal contracting funds.

You can read the full lawsuit below. The impact of the mandate on Alabama begins on line 135:

Board of Regents Complaint--As Filed by Devin Pavlou on Scribd