Politics- President
Joe Biden has urged employers to impose their own COVID-19 vaccination and testing mandates. - He spoke after the
Supreme Court blocked his administration's vaccine-or-testing mandate.
President Joe Biden has urged employers to "do the right thing" and ensure their staff get COVID-19 shots, after the US Supreme Court blocked his administration's vaccine-or-testing mandate Thursday.
Biden said in a statement that he was "disappointed" by the ruling and that it was now up to states and employers to choose whether to make workplaces "as safe as possible" by mandating vaccines or testing.
He said Thursday: "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."
He added: "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."
The mandate would have applied to private businesses with more than 100 employees – covering around 80 million Americans in total – and would have required staff who refused vaccinations to instead get tested once a week and wear a mask at work, with exemptions for religious reasons.
Companies including Citigroup, Uber, and Google have already introduced their own vaccine mandates, with some making the shots a condition for corporate staff to return to the office, and others saying they'll fire unvaccinated workers.
Though the Supreme Court blocked the private employer vaccination mandate, it allowed a separate vaccine mandate for healthcare workers at federally-funded facilities to take effect.