In The United States, The Vaccine Obligation Of Employees Reinstated!
Opponents of employee vaccination requirements demonstrate in front of city hall in Phoenix, Arizona, December 7, 2021.
This measure, which concerns companies with more than 100 employees, was suspended on appeal. It can still be challenged before the Supreme Court.
A US federal court reinstated, Friday, December 17, the vaccination obligation for employees of large companies, desired by the Biden administration to stem the Covid-19 epidemic. The measure was suspended on November 6 by another body. According to the text, employees of companies with more than one hundred employees must be vaccinated by January 4, otherwise, they will have to undergo very regular tests.
Announced in mid-September, this measure was adopted by decree at the beginning of November and immediately challenged urgently in court, in particular by the state of Texas, controlled by the Republicans, who are opposed to any vaccine obligation to fight against the epidemic. The measure was suspended on November 6 by a Texas appeals court pending a review on the merits.
“The Best Way Out Of The Epidemic”
Another court of appeal, in New Orleans, had maintained this suspension in mid-November, considering that the vaccination requirement “largely” exceeded the authority of the US government.
“It is established that the [virus responsible for] Covid-19 continued to spread, to mutate, to kill and to prevent the safe return of American employees to their work”, explained Friday in its decision the court of appeal from Ohio, seized in turn by the Department of Justice to judge all appeals. This decision can still be challenged in the US Supreme Court.
“To protect workers, OSHA [the Federal Agency for Occupational Safety and Health] can and should be able to respond to evolving hazards,” adds Justice Jane Stranch. She notes that in history, OSHA has already enjoyed broad powers to ensure the safety of workers and “demonstrated the widespread danger that Covid-19 poses to workers – the unvaccinated in particular – at their place of work ”.
The suspension of the vaccine obligation had been a major setback for the President of the United States, Democrat Joe Biden, who considered this measure as “the best way out of the pandemic”. “Too many people remain unvaccinated for us to be able to leave it definitively,” he said.