Biden voiced his disappointment with the conservative-majority court’s Thursday decision to halt the rule requiring vaccines or weekly coronavirus tests for staff at businesses with 100 or more employees. The President said it is now up to states and employers to decide whether or not to make vaccination mandatory.
The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in blocking the rule for large businesses, a policy that would have applied to over 80 million employers across the nation. The court’s majority downplayed the threat of coronavirus, particularly in the workplace. They compared it to “day-to-day” crime and pollution hazards that individuals constantly face.
Meanwhile, the court supported a separate federal vaccine requirement for healthcare facilities, such as hospitals and nursing homes, voting 5-4 to allow the rule. This makes vaccination against coronavirus mandatory for approximately 10.3 million workers at 76,000 healthcare facilities that accept funds from the Medicare and Medicaid government health insurance programmes.
