When the Supreme Court placed a stay on President Biden’s vaccine mandate for private employers, it signaled the end of the regulation. While the lawsuit will still make its way through the court system, the 6-3 majority made their stance on the constitutionality of the COVID vaccine mandate for private employers very clear. The administration heard the message, and President Biden put out a statement pleading with private employers to move ahead with vaccine mandates for their workforce.
The statement is full of inaccurate information. It notes that the Court upheld the mandate for healthcare workers and reads:
Today’s decision by the Supreme Court to uphold the requirement for health care workers will save lives: the lives of patients who seek care in medical facilities, as well as the lives of doctors, nurses, and others who work there. It will cover 10.4 million health care workers at 76,000 medical facilities. We will enforce it.
Besides vowing to enforce the mandate, almost nothing else in Biden’s statement is true. The current vaccines do not prevent transmission or symptomatic illness from delta or omicron. No patient is safer because their doctor or nurse is vaccinated. And no radiology tech getting vaccinated makes their co-workers safer. Vaccines reportedly reduce the likelihood of severe illness and death in vaccinated people.
Related: The Supreme Court’s Incoherent COVID Mandate Rulings
These messages have come from Dr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. Rochelle Walensky. More recently, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said that two doses are not enough for omicron. He added that boosters provided good protection against death and “decent” protection against hospitalization. Still, they only protect the vaccinated individual, not the community or co-workers.
These facts as provided by the leading “experts” make Biden’s plea to employers even weaker:
As a result of the Court’s decision, it is now up to States and individual employers to determine whether to make their workplaces as safe as possible for employees, and whether their businesses will be safe for consumers during this pandemic by requiring employees to take the simple and effective step of getting vaccinated. The Court has ruled that my administration cannot use the authority granted to it by Congress to require this measure, but that does not stop me from using my voice as President to advocate for employers to do the right thing to protect Americans’ health and economy. I call on business leaders to immediately join those who have already stepped up – including one third of Fortune 100 companies – and institute vaccination requirements to protect their workers, customers, and communities.
To begin with, shame on one-third of the Fortune 100 for using Biden’s contested mandate as a fig leaf. None of them had to implement a mandate until the courts ruled on the issue. They chose to anyway. Second, it would be wonderful if President Biden followed the science that his own appointees are sharing all over the media. Vaccinated employees do not protect each other or their employer’s customers.
There have been two Americas for over a year. There is Covidstan, where COVID restrictions resurface with each new variant and emergency powers for governors and mayors are permanent. The other country is Freeland, where leaders give citizens information, vaccines are available, and individuals make their own decisions. It also contains the states that disaffected Covidstanians are flocking to. National corporations and those with operations that straddle the two geographies will have a hard time convincing people who have been living free for a year and a half why they need to get the vaccine. Forget about boosters, especially after omicron.
According to the latest, left-leaning poll, President Biden has a 33% approval rating. Whatever political capital he had after 50 years in politics has been spent. Democrats in the Senate are not following Joe Biden’s lead. Why should any sane CEO?
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