The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is planning to withdraw its order for private businesses with over 100 employees to be vaccinated against Covid-19 or undergo regular testing after suffering a crippling defeat from the Supreme Court.
According to The Daily Caller:
OSHA will formally withdraw the rule on Wednesday, according to a document published Tuesday in an advanced version of the Federal Register. The rule, announced in November by President Joe Biden, was immediately challenged by several states and private companies, and the Supreme Court issued a stay on Jan. 13 while federal appeals courts consider its legality.
“After evaluating the Court’s decision, OSHA is withdrawing the Vaccination and Testing ETS as an enforceable emergency temporary standard,” the agency wrote in the Register.
When he announced the rule, Biden argued that it would reduce the spread of COVID-19 by increasing the number of Americans who received vaccinations against the virus. Vaccines are less effective at reducing the spread of the newly-dominant Omicron variant, although they are still effective at preventing hospitalization and death.
“Some of the biggest companies are already requiring this,” Biden said in defending the rule. “United Airlines, Disney, Tyson food and even Fox News.”
Other parts of President Biden’s vaccine mandate have also hit holdups in court. Last week, a federal judge blocked Biden’s vaccine order for federal contractors in Texas.
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