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A Superior Court judge has denied a request by the Los Angeles Fire Department firefighters union seeking a preliminary injunction to delay enforcement of the city’s vaccine mandate. The ruling is “a victory for public health and safety in Los Angeles,” City Atty. Mike Feuer said in a statement. “The Court recognized the emergency we’re in, and the harm that enjoining implementation of the vaccine mandate could have caused,” Feuer said. “Beyond this case, the presence of the new, highly contagious variant here in L.A. underscores the importance of vaccinating our first responders — indeed, of vaccinating everyone.” (Oreskes, 12/4)

The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals voted on Saturday to lift a temporary injunction that it had placed on the San Diego Unified School District’s student COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The rare weekend decision, reached by a 2-1 vote, lifts the injunction the court had placed on the mandate about a week ago. Judges had said the injunction would continue as long as the district continued to allow vaccine deferrals for pregnant students. But now that San Diego Unified removed that condition, the block has been removed too. (Wosen, 12/5)

President Biden's coronavirus vaccine mandates are hitting a pivotal moment, with federal courts emerging as a major obstacle to their implementation and the Senate poised to vote on a GOP-backed effort to defund the mandate on businesses. Biden’s vaccine rules for private business, health care workers and federal contractors have all been tied up in court challenges from Republican officials, with some GOP-appointed judges blocking them. Even if the administration ultimately wins the fights, the implementation of the rules could be delayed, potentially significantly. (Chalfant, 12/5)

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards’ plan to add the COVID-19 vaccine to the required immunization schedule for students at K-12 schools has energized a wave of opposition from mostly Republican state lawmakers, who are gathering in Baton Rouge Monday for an oversight hearing where they’ll attempt to thwart the proposal. No matter what happens at that hearing, Edwards will have the final say on whether the vaccine gets added to the schedule, and the Democratic governor said Friday that so far, no evidence has been presented to change his mind. (Patterson, 12/5)

UMass Memorial Health fired more than 200 caregivers who refused to get vaccinated for COVID-19, CEO and President Dr. Eric Dickson said Friday. “Sadly, we did terminate over 200 people for not getting vaccinated,” Dickson confirmed Friday in an interview. “We could have used them because we need everyone we have right now.” UMass Memorial Health’s roughly 15,000 employees faced a Nov. 1 deadline to get vaccinated or to receive an exemption, after which they were placed on unpaid leave if they did not get a shot. (Moulton, 12/6)

Southern Nevada and other areas of the state labeled at “high” risk of COVID-19 transmission will remain under a state mask mandate through the rest of the year and into early 2022, a state official said Thursday. “We will continue to have indoor masking, regardless of vaccination status, through the holiday season and into the start of the new year,” DuAne Young, policy adviser to Gov. Steve Sisolak, said at a news briefing. “Right now we’ve made a decision that with this new variant (omicron), with the winter surge, with what we know can happen, we just wanted to put it out there that we will continue masking through the holidays.” (Dylan, 12/2)