A US federal appeals court has temporarily halted the Biden administration’s requirement for businesses with 100 or more workers to be fully vaccinated.
The Fifth US Circuit Court of Appeals granted an emergency stay of the requirement by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration that such workers be vaccinated by 4 January or face mask requirements and weekly tests.
The Guardian reports that the stay came two days after the Biden administration unveiled the rule, which immediately met with vows of legal action from Republican governors and others, who argued it overstepped the administration’s legal authority. The administration has been encouraging widespread vaccinations as the quickest way to end the pandemic that has killed more than 750,000 people in the USA.
An average of about 1,100 Americans are dying daily from COVID-19, most unvaccinated. Nonetheless, at least 27 states filed lawsuits challenging the rule in several circuits, some of which were made more conservative by judicial appointments under Donald Trump.
The Fifth Circuit, based in New Orleans, said it was delaying the federal vaccine requirement because of potential “grave statutory and constitutional issues” raised by the plaintiffs. The government had to provide an expedited reply to the motion for a permanent injunction, followed by petitioners’ reply by this past Tuesday (9 November). The administration said it was confident the requirement, which includes penalties of nearly $14,000 per violation, would withstand legal challenges, in part because federal safety rules pre-empt state laws.
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