USA: Supreme Court suspends vaccination obligations for employees of large corporations

The US Supreme Court on Thursday suspended enforcement of government-imposed vaccination or testing obligations for employees of companies that employ more than 100 people. At the same time, the vaccination order for employees of medical facilities was upheld.

Court decisions did not prejudge the legality of the vaccination obligation, but whether it could be valid for the time required to be heard before lower courts.

In the first decisions issued Tennis Court The highest voter score of 6 – 3 decided to suspend OSHA’s obligation to immunize or take weekly testing. The justification cited, inter alia, the high costs of enforcing the regulations, and questioning the relationship between resolution and work safety. Most judges have concluded that while similar regulations can be justified in workplaces particularly vulnerable to the spread of Covid-19, it is questionable to extend the order to all large companies that employ a total of 80 million Americans, or 2/3 of all workers in the United States. American.

In the second ruling, by 5-4 votes, the justices decided that the vaccination obligation for all employees of medical facilities providing services under the state’s Medicare and Medicaid health insurance program can remain in effect. In justifying the decision, the court found that these actions fell within the standard powers of the Minister of Health and were justified in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic. The decision concerns 17 million medical workers.

In response to Thursday’s rulings, President Joe Biden urged employers to impose vaccination obligations themselves, as many large US companies do, regardless of court decisions. Biden also noted that the number of unvaccinated Americans has decreased by more than 55 million since the announcement of the decision to introduce compulsory vaccinations.

“Had my administration not made this commitment, today we would have many more COVID-19 victims and more hospitalizations,” Biden said in a statement.

From Washington, Oscar Gorzinsky (PAP)

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