(Washington) A US federal court on Friday reinstated the vaccine obligation for employees of large companies, desired by the Biden administration to stem the COVID-19 pandemic, and which had been suspended in early November by another instance.
The controversial measure consists in forcing tens of millions of employees in companies with more than 100 employees to be vaccinated by January 4, under penalty of having to undergo very regular tests.
Announced in mid-September, it had been adopted in early November by the White House and immediately challenged urgently in court, in particular by the state of Texas, controlled by Republicans opposed to any vaccine obligation to fight the pandemic.
The measure was suspended on November 6 by a Texas appeals court pending a review on the merits.
Another court of appeal, in New Orleans, had maintained this suspension in mid-November, considering that the vaccination obligation “largely” exceeded the authority of the US government.
“It is established that the COVID-19 continued to spread, to mutate, to kill and to prevent the safe return of American employees to their work”, explained Friday in its decision the court of appeal of the Ohio, seized in turn by the Department of Justice to judge all appeals.
This decision can still be challenged up to the US Supreme Court.
“To protect workers, OSHA (Federal Agency for Occupational Safety and Health) can and should be able to respond to evolving hazards,” adds Justice Jane Stranch.
She notes that OSHA has historically enjoyed broad powers to ensure the safety of workers and “demonstrated the widespread danger that COVID-19 poses to workers – the unvaccinated in particular – on their place of work ”.
The suspension of the vaccine obligation had been a major setback for Democratic President Joe Biden, who considered this measure “the best way out of this pandemic”.
“Too many people remain unvaccinated for us to be able to leave it definitively,” he said.