Phoenix has paused implementation of a federal COVID-19 vaccine mandate for the 14,000 workers in the nation’s fifth largest city.
The action came Tuesday hours after a federal judge temporarily blocked President Joe Biden’s administration from enforcing a mandate for those employed by federal contractors.
The pause was announced shortly before a planned afternoon hearing to discuss the city’s plan to get all city employees inoculated against the virus by Jan. 18.
It was the latest standoff around the country over federal guidelines for the vaccines that have been challenged by more than a dozen lawsuits nationwide.