Steph Deschamps / January 26, 2022
President Joe Biden's administration on Tuesday formally withdrew the vaccination requirement for businesses with more than 100 employees, noting the veto issued by the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Occupational Health and Safety Agency (Osha) announced the withdrawal in a short statement without mentioning the high court decision, which left it no choice.
She said she strongly encourages employees to get vaccinated against the ongoing dangers posed by Covid-19 in the workplace.
In the United States, where the virus has killed more than 870,000 people, only 63% of the population is fully vaccinated due to strong political divides on the issue.
After months of trying to convince the reluctant, Democrat Joe Biden announced in September that he wanted to make vaccination mandatory for employees of large companies, the medical sector and federal employees.
In the land of individual freedoms, his decision was immediately denounced as an abuse of power by Republican elected officials and by part of the business community, who took the matter to court.
On January 13, the Supreme Court ruled in favour of the 84 million people employed by large companies. However, the Court did uphold the vaccination requirement for employees of federally funded health care facilities.
On Tuesday, Republican elected officials welcomed the removal of the measure in private. The Biden administration is bending to reality and finally respecting the Constitution, Senator Josh Hawley tweeted, among others.