Judge Blocks Biden's Nationwide Vax Mandate For Federal Contractors

[Stone]

Judge Blocks Biden's Nationwide Vax Mandate For Federal Contractors

ZH |  DEC 07, 2021
The Biden administration suffered yet another blow on Tuesday after a federal judge in Georgia blocked a nationwide vaccine mandate requiring employees of federal contractors to be vaccinated.

The mandate, set to take effect Jan. 4, would apply to approximately 25% of the US workforce and would affect companies that do business with the federal government - including Google, General Motors, Microsoft and several airlines.

Tuesday's preliminary injunction follows a Kentucky federal judge's preliminary injunction granted last week in a lawsuit involving Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee, according to Bloomberg Law.

The mandate for businesses providing services for the federal government is part of a suite of Biden administration actions designed to increase vaccination rates. That includes an emergency regulation from the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration that covers private-sector companies with 100 employees or more, a shot requirement for health-care companies paid by Medicare and Medicare, and one for federal workers.

Numerous challenges to those mandates are pending in appellate courts, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has temporarily halted enforcement of the OSHA regulation. The Sixth Circuit is poised to consider the consolidated challenges to the OSHA rule.

Preliminary injunctions have also been issued against the Biden administration’s health care worker vaccine mandate and a similar mandate for private businesses.