The call for making vaccination mandatory for businesses has not got enough support at the US Supreme Court as it was divided. While the conservatives were not fully convinced about the vaccine mandate, the liberals supported the vaccine mandate in court. The US administration has taken a lot of interest in providing vaccines to every citizen, especially after Biden came into power.
Covid vaccine mandate: US Supreme Court divided
The US still remains the most affected country in the world due to Covid-19, and more than 800,000 people have lost their lives fighting the battle against this pandemic. Even before Omicron made its entry, Biden had announced that the administration plans to make vaccinations mandatory for businesses that have more than 100 employees.
It is interesting to note that only about 62 percent of the population is fully vaccinated in the US, even while vaccines are available for the entire population. Considering the rising threat of the new variant Omicron, the federal agencies had given time till February 9 to comply with the vaccine mandate for businesses. According to the new mandate, employees who are not yet vaccinated will have to provide the Covid negative test reports on a weekly basis.
However, the vaccine mandate did not get complete support from all corners as several businesses joined together to fight a legal battle against this mandate. The Supreme Court held an emergency meeting in this regard on Friday. But the court could not reach any conclusion as the liberals and conservatives did not reach an agreement in this regard.
The liberal justices supported the mandate and questioned why it should not be implemented when it could save many lives in the near future. On the other hand, the legal team of the businesses opposing the mandate said that this could lead to chaos as several employees may quit when such vaccine mandates are implemented.
Scott Keller, representing the business groups, argued that the OSHA guidelines would harm the economy at this stage as several workers will get displaced due to these rules. Some justices were of the opinion that it was the states that usually passed such mandates in the past, and the federal government has not passed such mandates.
On the other hand, liberal justices argued that only a few people might quit when vaccines are made mandatory at the workplace. However, when others discover that they have to work alongside employees who are not vaccinated, they may quit citing health risks. In this way, some employees may quit whether or not the vaccine mandate is approved shortly.
If the mandate is approved, close to 80 million employees will have to follow them as they work in companies that have more than 100 employees. This is a huge number going by any standards, and it is not easy to convince every person regarding the vaccine mandate.
Apart from businesses, the new vaccine mandate will also apply to healthcare workers, and close to 10 million of them will have to follow the new guidelines. It is interesting to note that even some healthcare workers have chosen not to get vaccinated.
Across the world, close to 10 million people have been infected with Covid-19 in the last few weeks. As cases of Omicron surge across the country, it will be a big challenge for the Biden administration to handle the situation without a vaccine mandate. But the mandate is not getting enough support from lawmakers, which has complicated the situation. In this regard, the administration has to look for other alternatives to control the spread of Omicron in the next few weeks.
