Businesses with at least 100 employees were urged to carry on implementing COVID vaccine mandates as per President Joe Biden's September announcement, regardless of the block ordered by the Court of Appeals.
Now that the Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has issued an emergency order implementing the overreaching measure, businesses must comply with the requirement, which received a temporary stay from a three-judge panel on Saturday.
"People should not wait. They should continue to move forward and make sure they're getting their workplace vaccinated," White House Deputy Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said during a press briefing on Monday, as reported by Breitbart. However, on Saturday, President Biden's COVID vaccine mandate was met with a roadblock after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit Court issued a temporary stay that blocked the mandate as it considers a permanent injunction.
The decision came about after the states of Texas, Utah, Mississippi, and South Carolina, and several other businesses opposed the Biden administration's COVID vaccine mandate and filed a petition of review of the measure. This went directly to a federal appeals court, bypassing a one-judge federal district trial court.
The three-judge panel concluded, "Because the petitions give cause to believe there are grave statutory and constitutional issues with the Mandate, the Mandate is hereby stayed pending further action by this court." On Monday, the Biden administration asked to lift the temporary suspension, claiming that the challenge raised by the states and businesses, which collectively claimed the mandate was "unconstitutional, was "premature." The Biden administration also claimed that delaying the COVID vaccine mandate would "likely cost dozens or even hundreds of lives per day."
Biden's COVID vaccine mandate has disrupted the economy so close to the holidays, as retail stores face increased worker shortages because of the mandate. In fact, Local 21 News reported that grocery chains such as Karns, which is already facing supply chain issues and workforce shortages are now burdened with planning on how to get all staff members vaccinated by January 4.
"It is a very short time window at 60 days. It will be a struggle for any small business," CEO Scott Karns admitted. He said that despite the "tremendous amount of rules in this mandate," the company will comply. He added that the timeline does present some challenges because it falls around the holidays.
Meanwhile, a union representing over 700,000 government employees issued a request to the Biden administration to extend the November 22 deadline for government employees to get the COVID vaccine, as per the president's mandate, Reuters reported. Last week, the White House caved in and granted an extension for federal contractors to get the jab, approving a new deadline of January 4 instead of December 8.
On Monday, Representative Sam Graves, who leads the House Transportation Committee, and Representative Garret Graves wrote in a letter to the Federal Aviation Administration and TSA, saying, "We are concerned that vaccine mandates combined with a pre-existing worker shortage and anticipated return of holiday air travel demands are compounding and creating a perfect storm."
