Pandemic roundup: 10 states sue to overturn vaccine mandate for health-care workers, citing rural challenges

Here's a roundup of recent news stories about the pandemic and vaccination efforts:

Citing rural workforce challenges, 10 states with large rural populations have filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration challenging the federal mandate that health-care workers be vaccinated against the coronavirus in order for their employers to participate in Medicaid and Medicare, Dave Muoio reports for Fierce Healthcare. The states filing suit are Alaska, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming.

Some rural hospital administrators say they're skeptical about the Rural Emergency Hospital program, a proposed rule meant to help struggling rural hospitals stay afloat by no longer requiring them to maintain expensive in-patient beds in order to participate in Medicare and Medicaid. Read more here.

The Food and Drug Administration has authorized the Novavax coronavirus vaccine. Because it's not a messenger RNA vaccine, some who objected to the newer technology might be persuaded to take the more traditional vaccine. Read more here.