(Washington) The American government of Joe Biden defended on Sunday the legality of its vaccine obligation against COVID-19 in companies with more than one hundred employees, suspended the day before by the justice which wants to examine its constitutionality.
“We are confident about the compliance” of this measure “with the law and regulations,” Cedric Richmond, adviser to the President of the United States, said on CBS.
He stressed that “the option of a weekly test” was offered to employees who were totally resistant to the vaccine.
“Being president is not making easy decisions, it is making fair decisions and having the courage to implement them”, he added, while the conservatives denounce any form of vaccine obligation as “dictatorial” measures. “The carnage that is underway”, with more than 750,000 deaths due to the pandemic in the United States, “it is unacceptable”, and “vaccines are the best way to fight against that”, insisted this close advisor by Joe Biden.
The controversial measure consists of forcing tens of millions of employees in companies with more than 100 employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19 by January 4, under penalty of having to undergo very regular tests.
Seized urgently in particular by the State of Texas, controlled by the Republicans, a federal court of appeals on Saturday suspended this new regulation by invoking possible “serious constitutional and procedural problems”, the time to examine it on the merits. This is a setback for the Democratic president, who relies on these more or less extensive forms of vaccination obligation to relaunch an immunization campaign that is slipping.
“The president and the government would not have taken these measures if they did not think that they are appropriate and necessary”, also reacted the chief medical officer of the United States Vivek Murthy on the channel ABC, assuring that the executive would “defend” them in court.
He pointed out that the mandatory vaccine was “nothing new” in American history, and had been imposed against many diseases.
And did not rule out extending the measure to smaller companies if it is finally validated by justice.