On Jan. 13, the Supreme Court blocked the Biden administration from enforcing the vaccine-or-test requirements for large private companies.
The mandate required that workers who are employed at businesses with 100 or more employees must get vaccinated or submit a negative COVID-19 test weekly. Unvaccinated workers would also have been required to wear masks indoors at work.
President Joe Biden has tried to emphasize the necessity of getting vaccinated and use the mandate on businesses with a large number of employees to prompt workers to get the shot. With the mandate now being blocked, Biden will have to find another way to convince Americans to get vaccinated.
The Supreme Court holds that though COVID-19 is a risk in many workplaces, it’s not an occupational hazard in most places.
Biden said in a statement that he is “disappointed that the Supreme Court has chosen to block common-sense life-saving requirements for employees at large businesses that were grounded squarely in both science and the law.”
On the other hand, the court upheld the vaccine policy requiring vaccinations for certain health care workers at hospitals, nursing homes, and other facilities that are involved in Medicare and Medicaid programs. This mandate will regulate vaccinations for more than 10.3 million health care workers in the United States, according to the government.
