United States: court blocks mandatory vaccine rule set to apply to 84 million employees

Democrat president Joe Biden announced in September that, as of 4 January, staff at companies employing 100 people or more would have to either be vaccinated against Covid-19 or be tested on a weekly basis. The measure, which was intended to cover employees of large private companies as well as staff of federal government facilities and hospitals, nursing homes and other healthcare sectors funded by Medicare and Medicaid – a grand total of 84 million people –, was blocked on 6 November by judges at a federal appeals court in New Orleans. Following a complaint by the Republican states of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Utah, as well as several private companies, the appeals court judges said there are “grave statutory and constitutional issues” with the rules and have given the Biden administration until 17:00 today (local time) to adapt its text to the plaintiffs’ remarks. The government’s mandatory vaccination measure was to come with sanctions for companies that fail to comply with the rules, with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) able to hand out fines of $13,653. In addition, employers in question would be required to provide paid time off for employees to receive two doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, or one dose of Johnson & Johnson, and to provide sick leave for potential post-vaccination side effects.