The First Circuit Court of Appeals has allowed part of a First Amendment free exercise claim against a COVID-19 vaccine mandate to proceed, critiquing a federal district court's finding that the plaintiffs failed to show a "likelihood of success."

The appeals court affirmed in part and denied in part an appeal of employees' rejected preliminary injunction against a COVID vaccine policy instituted by Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket Steamship Authority in 2021, in an opinion issued Oct. 6.