White House Gives Up on Workplace Vaccine Mandate

The White House last week withdrew its requirement that companies with at least 100 employees be vaccinated against the coronavirus or regularly tested.

In pulling the rule, the Labor Department recognized what most employers and industry experts said after a Supreme Court ruling this month, which is that the emergency temporary standard could not be revived after the court blocked it.

“It’s their admitting what everyone had been saying, which is that the rule is dead,” said attorney Brett Coburn.

The Supreme Court’s decision, which was 6 to 3, with the liberal justices in dissent, said OSHA did not have the authority to require workers to be vaccinated against the coronavirus or tested weekly, describing the agency’s approach as “a blunt instrument.”

The mandate would have applied to about 80 million people.

Source: New York Times