BERLIN (AP) — Germany's Constitutional Court has refused to temporarily block the implementation of a coronavirus vaccine mandate for care and health workers that is due to come into force in mid-March.

The country's top court said Friday that it had rejected a bid to impose an injunction against the measure until a legal challenge against its constitutionality is formally reviewed.

The Karlsruhe-based court received dozens of complaints after Parliament approved the measure late last year.

Staff in nursing homes, hospitals and doctors' practices, physiotherapists and midwives have to prove by March 15 that they have been vaccinated against COVID-19. Those who fail to do so can be banned for working, to prevent vulnerable people from being infected by unvaccinated staff.