Health

US Supreme Court to hear challenges to Biden’s vaccine mandates

Washington DC, Dec 22 (EFE).- The United States Supreme Court announced Wednesday that it will conduct a special hearing in January against two vaccination mandates from President Joe Biden directed at health workers and companies with 100 or more employees.

The court order said the oral arguments will commence on Jan.7 in the two cases.

One of the two vaccine mandates requires companies with 100 or more employees to ensure that their workers are fully vaccinated or show a negative test result at least once a week.

This measure affects at least 80 million people.

The measure, issued in November by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration – which falls under the Department of Labor -, was challenged by state governments, businesses, and religious groups and has led to litigations across the country.

The dispute landed last week in the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati (Ohio, USA), which reinstated the measure, a month after another court of appeals blocked it for considering it “too broad”.

The other mandate in question is aimed at employees at most health facilities in the US who receive federal Medicare or Medicaid grants, affecting about 50,000 health care providers in the country.

While the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, based in Atlanta, rejected the appeal against the mandates, two other courts have blocked its implementation in 24 states.

The US has witnessed a growth in Covid-19 cases in recent days, attributed especially to the spread of the omicron variant. EFE

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