DOUGLAS (WNE) — Memorial Hospital of Converse County’s controversial vaccination policy has been delayed yet again in the ever-shifting legal, political and social landscape that has defined two years of the pandemic. 

The hospital board and administration drafted and adopted an initial policy requiring the vast majority of employees, contractors and volunteers be vaccinated by Dec. 5 — a date set by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services under a federal vaccine mandate that has been the subject of multiple lawsuits across the country. The State of Wyoming is party to one case headed to the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday. 

That initial policy, which was formulated based on the CMS rule, was hit with a federal court injunction. So MHCC rewrote the policy, softened the language somewhat from a stick approach (mandating vaccination or a waiver, or be terminated) to a carrot (incentives to be vaccinated) and moved the enforcement date to Jan. 1. 

The latest policy remains in effect, but the effective date has once again been moved back. This time, the new date is Jan. 31, according to CEO Matt Dammeyer. 

The administration and board realized the Jan. 1 implementation was cutting it a little too close given the holidays and the rapidly changing legal landscape with federal lawsuits, he said, so they decided to move the enforcement date back to the end of the month to allow employees more time to get both initial shots and/or the booster.