US Supreme Court Block Biden’s Workplace Vaccine Mandate

Gharam Al-Zubi 21 January 2022

Image courtesy of CNBC

On Thursday 13 January, the US Supreme Court of Justice blocked President Biden’s nationwide workplace vaccine mandate.

The mandate would have forced business employers that have more than 100 employees, to be either vaccinated or masked and tested weekly on the employee’s own expense.

The Supreme Court however, approved a limited mandate that requires health care workers to be vaccinated if they are working for government-funded health facilities.

If Biden’s mandate was to succeed, then it would have impacted 84 million workers in the United States.

Following their decision, the Supreme Court said ‘there is no everyday exercise of federal power,’ Adding that the virus can spread in homes, school and any gathering site.

This court’s decision comes as a blow to the President whose approval rating has been declining.

President Biden was disappointed with the employer mandate decision that ‘block[s] common-sense life-saving requirements for employees.’

The President then urged business employers to ‘immediately join those who have already stepped up and institute vaccination requirements to protect their workers, customers, and communities.’

According to BBC reporter, Anthony Zurcher, ‘Biden's vaccine mandates stood or fell based on judicial interpretations of federal statute, not principles of individual liberty or appeals to the greater good.’

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), a US government agency tasked with protecting worker safety, issued the mandate back in November, however the Supreme Court responded by saying, that ‘although Congress has indisputably given OSHA the power to regulate occupational dangers, it has not given that agency the power to regulate public health more broadly,’

The Supreme Court’s decision leaves large companies on their own and allows them to implement their own policies. Companies like United Airlines have invoked their own mandate while other companies were still awaiting the court’s decision which they have now.

Some large companies expressed their concerns with regards to setting up testing programs for their employees, as well as dealing with their unvaccinated employees’ reactions, especially when they are in short supply.

The Supreme Court ruling comes as the United States is recording a record high of 786,000 daily Covid-19 cases, while 149,000 Americans are admitted in hospitals according to data provided by the Department of Health and Human Services.