Suit challenges New Mexico orders on COVID-19 vaccinations
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A lawsuit filed on behalf of a New Mexico nurse and an agricultural worker challenges the constitutionality of recent public health orders requiring people with certain jobs to get COVID-19 vaccinations and restricting admittance to the state fair.
The lawsuit filed Thursday in federal court asks a judge to block enforcement of an order requiring health workers, teachers and certain other workers to get vaccinated. A separate order that the suit seeks to block requires anyone attending the New Mexico State Fair to be fully vaccinated.
The suit, which was filed against Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and acting Health Secretary David Scrase, calls Lujan Grisham a “tyrannical governor willing to punish children and destroy livelihoods.”
Lujan Grisham spokeswoman Nora Meyers Sackett told the Santa Fe New Mexican that the administration does not comment on pending litigation but that state actions to protect the public’s health and safety have been repeatedly upheld by courts.
Attorney A. Blair Dunn filed the suit on behalf of Jennifer Blackford, a registered nurse at Presbyterian Hospital in Albuquerque, and Union County Extension Agent Talisha Valdez,
