Vaccine mandate news - Free rapid tests from Wednesday after Supreme Court blocks Biden Covid rule

Joe Biden gives an update on federal surge response to Omicron

The Supreme Court has tossed out a Biden administration vaccine mandate that would have required 80 million workers to either get vaccinated or submit to regular testing.

In a blow to the president’s push to get more Americans vaccinated, the ruling comes as health experts believe that the US may be approaching the peak of the latest wave of Covid-19 brought on by the highly contagious Omicron variant.

While the political right is praising the decision, there is an outcry from the medical community, and from the left. MSNBC host Joy Reid called the justices who chose to strike down the mandate “right-wing ideologues”.

Meanwhile, a number of Republican politicians have vowed that they will defy Washington, D.C.’s own proposed vaccination mandate for businesses.

The mandate, which was announced by Mayor Muriel Bowser in December, will force many establishments — from gyms and theatres to bars and restaurants — to require that patrons over the age of 12 show proof of COVID-19 vaccination before entering.

Key points

• Supreme Court blocks Biden vaccine mandate
• Has Omicron peaked in the US?
• Rand Paul: Fauci ‘ deserves everything he gets’
• Scientists and medical professionals rally around Fauci
• ‘Urgent need’ for super vaccine as other variants emerge

[13 January 2022 21:40 · Oliver O'Connell]

What did the court decide?

The Supreme Court voted 6-3 along ideological lines to toss out Joe Biden’s mandate for businesses requiring those with more than 100 workers to institute vaccination or regular testing requirements.

A second 5-4 ruling in the court allowed the administration’s requirement for healthcare workers to be vaccinated to remain in place. Conservative justices John Roberts and Brett Kavanaugh sided with the liberal justices on that decision.

However, the first ruling is nevertheless a major blow to the plan the president announced last year.

In their majority opinion, the six justices wrote that although Covid-19 was indeed a hazard faced by many employees at their workplaces, it did not fall under the legal definition of an “occupational hazard” that OSHA, the US government agency which enforces labour standards, could regulate.

[13 January 2022 22:00 · Oliver O'Connell]

Flashback: OSHA — small agency, big job

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration doesn’t make many headlines. Charged with keeping America’s workplaces safe, it usually busies itself with tasks such as setting and enforcing standards for goggles, hardhats, and ladders.

And then it was directed to write a rule requiring employers with more than 100 workers to require vaccines or produce weekly test results.

[13 January 2022 22:15 · Oliver O'Connell]

SCOTUS decision doesn’t change reality of pandemic

If you are unvaccinated you are far more likely to get hospitalised and die from Covid-19.

[13 January 2022 22:30 · Oliver O'Connell]

Before mandates there were incentives

Before the White House introduced vaccine mandates in the late summer of 2021, the vaccine had been available for almost nine months.

To encourage take-up, a number of incentive schemes around the country received White House support.

Ben Wakana of the Covid-19 response team provides a few examples:

[13 January 2022 22:45 · Oliver O'Connell]

NBC News: 1 million new cases of Covid in 24 hours

NBC News reports that the number of Covid-19 cases in the US has now topped 63 million since the start of the pandemic.

There were 1 million new cases in 24 hours from the highly transmissible Omicron variant.

[13 January 2022 23:20 · Oliver O'Connell]

Ruling does not prevent employers from requiring vaccination

The Scotus ruling does not prevent private employers from requiring vaccination, nor does it undermine existing workplace vaccination requirements that were put in place voluntarily by employers.

The White House will continue to encourage private employers to institute their own mandates.

[13 January 2022 23:51 · Oliver O'Connell]

United Airlines: Vaccine mandate ended weekly deaths

The CEO of United Airlines has told his staff in an open letter that the company’s vaccine mandate has ended the “weekly” deaths that previously plagued the organisation.

[14 January 2022 00:45 · Oliver O'Connell]

ABC News criticised for editing CDC director interview

ABC News is under fire for its editing of a “Good Morning America” interview with CDC Director Rochelle Walensky that created uncertainty that’s being exploited by vaccine critics.

[14 January 2022 01:45 · Oliver O'Connell]

Coming soon: Free masks and 1 billion Covid tests

President Joe Biden said his administration will unveil a plan to provide free masks to Americans, to encourage their use in order to stem the spread of Covid-19.

Mr Biden also said on Thursday that his administration will order another half-billion at-home Covid-19 tests for mailing to any American who requests one on a yet-to-be unveiled website, adding to a previous order of 500 million placed by the administration last month.

Andrew Feinberg reports.

[14 January 2022 02:45 · Oliver O'Connell]

KN95 and N95: What you need to know

As the US fights to slow the spread of Covid-19’s Omicron variant, reports have surfaced that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is considering recommending that those who can should wear a higher standard of mask when in public – specifically the KN95 and N95 masks that have been in high demand for the last two years.