NASHVILLE, Tenn. — As Louisiana leads a lawsuit against federal rules requiring staff and volunteers at Head Start Programs to be vaccinated against COVID-19, officials said Tennessee would be part of it.
State Attorney General Herbert H. Slatery III said Tuesday that he would join the lawsuit against new requirements from the federal government. Those requirements include COVID-19 vaccinations for staff and volunteers working with children and mask requirements for toddlers.
In a release, he said he felt deciding whether people who work with children should be vaccinated is best left up to the states.
"The ‘one size fits all’ approach is not workable," he said in the release.
Head Start Programs primarily work with children from low-income families who may not be able to afford childcare resources. The program gives those children additional education as well.
The federal rules would require people working with those programs to be vaccinated against COVID-19 by Jan. 31.
The other states included in the lawsuit are Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Wyoming and West Virginia.