The Supreme Court blocks the obligation of vaccination in companies with over 100 employees
Stop a Joe Biden from the United States Supreme Court. The highest American judicial body has issued a firm no to the Democratic administration plan it had asked for the obligation to vaccinate against Covid-19 to all employees of large companies. The conservative-majority court ruled that the government went beyond its limits. The only exception to the mandatory vaccine, exceptionally, concerns employees of health centers who receive public funds. The requirement, now blocked, was aimed at companies with more than 100 employees. The employees of this sector (about 84 million) would have had to compulsorily get vaccinated or, alternatively, have weekly tests.
Conservative majority in the Supreme Court halts Biden’s proposed law
L’Occupational Safety and Health Administration had provided for penalties up to $ 14,000 for companies that have not respected the order, with the only exceptions of workers with medical or religious motivations. The measure was supposed to go into effect on January 4, but some Republican-led states from Ohio and a business group filed an appeal. “Allowing OSHA to regulate the risks of everyday life, simply because most Americans have jobs and face the same risks at work, would greatly expand OSHA’s regulatory authority without clear approval from Congress.” , the Supreme Court justified its verdict.
The Supreme Court leaves only the obligation for workers of public health centers
The three progressive judges Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor and Stephen Breyer, disagreed with the opinion expressed by the majority of the Supreme Court. The six conservatives, expression of the majority, have blocked the law. The president of the Corte Suprema John Roberts e Brett Kavanaugh, both conservatives, instead joined with progressives in bailing out the part of the government’s plan that includes workers in centers who receive funds from public health programs like Medicare (retirees) or Medicaid (for underprivileged people). Biden, since he is president, tried to persuade undecided Americans to vaccinate. Among the people of age over 12, there is still 28% of the population who is not fully vaccinated and the 15% did not even receive the second dose. Meanwhile, the Omicron variant, as well as in much of the world, has spread to the United States putting a strain on the health system as a whole and much of the economic activity.