US Supreme Court blocks Covid-19 vaccine mandate for businesses, in blow to Joe Biden
- US Supreme Court stopped a major push by the Biden administration to boost the nation’s Covid-19 vaccination rate
- Rule would have required employees at large businesses get a vaccine or test regularly and wear a mask on the job
At the same time, the nation’s highest court allowed a vaccination mandate for health care workers at facilities receiving federal funding.
Biden said he was “disappointed” in the nine-member court’s decision Thursday striking down his mandate for businesses with 100 employees or more to vaccinate or test their workers for Covid-19.
“I am disappointed that the Supreme Court has chosen to block common-sense life-saving requirements for employees at large businesses that were grounded squarely in both science and the law,” Biden said in a statement.
The president welcomed the requirement that health care workers be vaccinated, saying it would affect some 10 million people working at facilities receiving federal funds and will “save lives”.
After months of public appeals to Americans to get vaccinated against Covid-19, which has killed more than 845,000 people in the United States, Biden announced in September that he was making vaccinations compulsory at large private companies.