Federal Appeals Court Suspends Biden's Vaccine Requirement for Businesses

The president had announced that employees of companies with at least 100 people should be vaccinated against Covid-19 or tested weekly from January 4.

"Too many people remain unvaccinated for us to get out of it for good," opined Joe Biden on November 4, 2021.

"It's another setback for Joe Biden, who had just scored his first major legislative victory with the passage of his infrastructure investment plan through Congress on Friday. On Saturday 6 November, a US federal appeals court, seized by several Republican states (Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Utah) and private companies, suspended the vaccination requirement introduced by the President of the United States for employees of companies with more than 100 employees.

In its decision, the federal court of appeal in New Orleans considers that the plaintiffs have "presented arguments suggesting that there are serious constitutional and procedural problems" with the government text. It is therefore temporarily "suspended" pending review by the court on the merits. The government must provide a response on Monday, while the petitioners' response is expected on Tuesday.

"We will be able to challenge Biden's unconstitutional abuse of power in court," reacted conservative Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who has already banned vaccine requirements on his soil, on Twitter. He added that the hearings would take place "soon".

Mandatory vaccines raise eyebrows

Even if it is only a suspension at this stage, it is a setback for Joe Biden, who announced on Thursday that employees of companies with at least 100 people would have to be vaccinated against Covid-19 or tested every week from January 4, a decision immediately challenged by the Republican governors of several states, in multiple jurisdictions.

The Democratic president had declared on Thursday that: "Vaccination is the best way out of this pandemic", assuring that he would have "preferred to avoid this obligation" supposed to affect more than two thirds of the country's workforce. "Too many people remain unvaccinated for us to get out of it permanently," he said.

The suspended text leaves it up to the employer to take the measures it deems appropriate, including disciplinary measures, against those who refuse to be vaccinated and regularly tested. Companies that fail to enforce the requirement could be fined between $13,000 and $136,000, according to the legislation.

The White House had warned that the new rule applies to all states, including those that have laws prohibiting employers from requiring vaccinations, masks or testing. Several large American groups have already prepared the ground by imposing these obligations on their employees at the end of September.

United Airlines warned its 67,000 employees that they could be fired if they did not get vaccinated in time. As of Thursday, only 2,000 of them had asked to be exempted for medical or religious reasons, and most of the rest have received the shot.

At meat giant Tyson Foods, which saw its operations severely disrupted at the start of the pandemic, all 120,000 employees were to be vaccinated by Nov. 1. From less than 50 percent at the beginning of August, their vaccination rate had risen to 96 percent by Thursday, according to the New York Times. The U.S. Army, which has also adopted a very strict policy in this area, has a vaccination coverage of 95%.

Some sectors remain resistant, often rejecting more the obligation that is made to them than the vaccine itself. This is particularly the case for law enforcement and firefighters, where the vaccination rate is frequently below average, despite the many deaths linked to the pandemic in these professions. The Los Angeles County Sheriff acknowledged that only 43% of his officers were vaccinated against the coronavirus. Sheriff Alex Villanueva called on the county to suspend the requirement, saying it "undermines the ability to ensure public safety." In Chicago, several thousand police officers are at risk of going on unpaid leave.

United States: the status of the Covid-19 epidemic
72,969 cases and 1,093 deaths on average each day during the week of Saturday 6 to Friday 12 November 20.