The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to block Maine's COVID-19 vaccine mandate for health care workers despite their religious objections. 

The ruling Friday was 6-3, with conservative justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch dissenting. Due to the nature of the emergency application, the court provided no reason for its ruling. 

The case, brought on by a group of anonymous health care workers, argued that the mandate violates their religious freedoms. Specifically, due to what they view as an impossible connection between the vaccines and the use of abortion-related materials in production. 

Court documents show that the state’s vaccine mandate is not absolute and individualized exemptions are available, “but only if they invoke certain preferred (nonreligious) justifications.” 

Since 2019, the state does not recognize religious beliefs as an exemption for health care workers from getting vaccinated. “Employees can avoid the vaccine mandate if they produce a “written statement” from a doctor or other care provider indicating that immunization “may be” medically inadvisable, said Justice Gorsuch in his dissent. 

Friday’s decision comes the same day as the state’s deadline to begin enforcing the requirement for those not in compliance. The Oct. 29 mandate applies to health care workers in hospitals, nursing homes and doctor’s offices. 

Northern Light Health announced that unvaccinated workers would no longer be working at its 10 hospitals as of Saturday. 

Central Maine Medical Center is already in compliance, meaning unvaccinated staff members are no longer working at the Lewiston hospital. 

MaineHealth CEO and other hospital executives previously said in a press conference that staffing shortages are not a new problem and that the pandemic has only exacerbated an ongoing issue. State agencies have vowed to work with hospitals and nursing homes individually to address issues that may arise from the mandate.