OSHA vaccine-or-test rule for 84 million workers is back after court lifts stay : NPR
By: NPR. org
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
December 17, 20217:32 PM ET
Andrea Hsu
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At a White House event on October 14, President Joe Biden encouraged states and businesses to support vaccine mandates to avoid a surge in cases of Covid-19. Drew Angerer/Getty Images hide caption
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At a White House event on October 14, President Joe Biden encouraged states and businesses to support vaccine mandates to avoid a surge in cases of Covid-19.
Drew Angerer/Getty Images
The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals has lifted the stay on the Biden administration's rule requiring workers at companies with 100 or more employees to be vaccinated against Covid or undergo weekly testing starting Jan. 4.
The rule had been blocked since Nov. 6, a day after it was formally issued by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
A three-judge panel of the 6th Circuit found that the injuries asserted by the petitioners "are entirely speculative," and that the costs of delaying implementation of the rule are comparatively high.
"Fundamentally, the [rule] is an important step in curtailing the transmission of a deadly virus that has killed over 800,000 people in the United States, brought our healthcare system to its knees, forced businesses to shut down for months on end, and cost hundreds of thousands of workers their jobs," wrote Circuit Judge Jane B. Stranch, an Obama appointee.
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"The harm to the Government and the public interest outweighs any irreparable injury to the individual Petitioners who may be subject to a vaccination policy," she went on.
The lifting of the stay comes just as the highly transmissible Omicron variant is wreaking havoc in Europe and the U.S. is bracing for a similar spread.
OSHA had estimated that the vaccinate-or-test rule could save more than 6,500 lives and prevent over 250,000 hospitalizations in the six months that it would be in effect.
In addition to the vaccine and testing requirements set to take effect Jan. 4, the rule requires companies to determine who among their workers are vaccinated and who are not, and to enforce a mask mandate for unvaccinated workers starting Dec. 6. It's unclear now whether that takes effect immediately.
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The ruling is a big victory for the Biden administration, as its vaccine mandate for health care workers at facilities that receive Medicaid or Medicare funding remains blocked in about half the states and its vaccine mandate for federal contractors remains blocked nationwide.
Still, today's ruling is not expected to be the final word. In all likelihood, it will be heading to the U.S. Supreme Court soon.
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- COVID-19
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Sanity prevailed in the 6th Circuit.
Yes, it did G.
I can hear the gnashing of teeth over this from the right.
An emergency stay has already been requested from the Supreme Court ... This should suspend it until the justice covering the 6th circuit (Kavanaugh) has a chance to rule.... It's so new it hasn't shown up on the SC's website yet... It will be Kavanaugh's decision..
I'm sure that it has as well as being expected.
One of the interesting things is, they waited until late Friday, AFTER the Supreme Court closed for business to issue the order... we have to wait for Monday/Tuesday to hear what Kavanaugh has to say... They wanted the weekend to do what they do...
Boeing just lifed their mandate I believe so this should get interesting.