Almost 200 Minnesota healthcare workers sued their employers in a bid to block COVID-19 vaccine mandates at their facilities. The lawsuit, filed on behalf of unnamed workers in various hospital systems across the state, identifies about two dozen healthcare institutions, hospitals, and federal officials as defendants. That includes the Mayo Clinic, Fairview Health Services, University of Minnesota Physicians, and Regions Hospital. “Plaintiffs’ employers are placing a substantial burden on their employees not to practice their religious-based objection to the COVID-19 vaccination or live under the threat of having their religious exemption withdrawn at any time,” the lawsuit (pdf) said. Employer mandates are forcing workers who have religious objections to the vaccine or who have recovered from COVID-19 to be vaccinated so that healthcare facilities and institutions can say they have higher vaccination numbers to get more money via federal subsidies, said the lawsuit. According to the lawsuit, the plaintiffs alleged that …