From left: Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost (R-Oh), Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley, a candidate for the Democratic nomination for Ohio governor next year, and Incumbent Ohio Governor Mike DeWine (R-Oh)...By Clevelandurbannews.com and-Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com

COLUMBUS, Ohio—Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, a Republican, has joined a lawsuit challenging the Biden administration’s coronavirus vaccine mandate for healthcare workers nationwide, the third lawsuit in recent weeks in which Yost has signed onto regarding President Joe Biden's vaccine mandates, Biden a Democrat who unseated then Republican president Donald Trump in November of 2020.

Yost has also joined lawsuits against the Biden administration that require vaccines for employers with 100 or more people and for federal contractors. While the president's controversial vaccine mandates are supported  by reputable medical groups, conservatives and anti-vaccination activists oppose the mandates and are taking their concerns to court.

Originally filed by Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry, a Republican like Yost, the controversial lawsuit filed by Yost in Columbus more recently seeks to overturn the new federal rule that requires about 17 million employees at healthcare facilities that participate in the Medicare and Medicaid programs to be fully vaccinated by Jan. 4 unless they have a medical or religious exemption. Failure to comply after that date could result in discipline up to and including termination.

Twelve other Republican state attorneys general in addition to Ohio and Louisiana have also filed suit relative to vaccine mandates imposed by the Biden administration.

In his lawsuit filing on behalf of the pivotal state of Ohio, Yost called the COVID-19 vaccine mandate at issue an unlawful use of executive powers, and said the president "does not have the authority to make healthcare decisions for Americans.”

Supporters of the mandate, including the American Medical Association and a long list of other prominent health-care groups, argue that it is necessary to protect the medically vulnerable and to ensure the physical safety of employees of healthcare facilities.

Dayton, Ohio Mayor Nan Whaley, a candidate for the Democratic nomination for Ohio governor next year who hopes to oust Republican Mike DeWine from office and who has support for her candidacy from prominent Ohio Democrats like U.S. Sen Sherrod Brown of Cleveland, supports the vaccine mandates and so does Brown, a seasoned federal lawmaker and Ohio's most prominent Democrat.

"Masks and vaccines work and it is our responsibility as elected officials to encourage their use," Whaley said in a statement to Clevelandurbannews.com and-Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's leader in Black digital news.

Since the coronavirus pandemic hit the U.S. with a vengeance  in March of 2020, the Ohio Department of Health has reported some 1.65 million cases and 27, 063 deaths.

Nationwide, some 48 million cases have been reported along with more than 795,000 deaths, compared to 258 million cases worldwide and some 5 million deaths.