USA: Supreme Court considers mandatory vaccination

After months of trying to convince the hesitant, Biden announced in September that he intends to make vaccination mandatory for some workers, mainly in companies employing more than 100 people, as well as in federal agencies.

The measure was immediately denounced by Republicans, who consider that the federal state is exceeding its powers, and by part of the business world, which considered the move counterproductive.

The decrees implementing the measure, published in early November, mentioned early January as the deadline for workers to have received a first dose of the covid-19 vaccine. Otherwise, they will be subject to weekly diagnostic tests, under penalty of a fine from their employers.

Several states, mostly with Republican governors, as well as employers' associations, appealed to the courts, with the courts making conflicting decisions, resulting in the measure's implementation being postponed.

The Supreme Court agreed on 22 December to consider, in an extraordinary session, this issue which has serious political and health implications.

The nine judges will consider two different issues regarding compulsory vaccination: the first concerns private companies with more than 100 employees, which account for two thirds of private sector employers, with 80 million employees. The other concerns health workers working in public health structures.

«Saves lives»

In the arguments sent to the Supreme Court, the federal government justifies the measure in the name of health emergency in order to tackle “the deadliest pandemic in the country's history” and stresses that workplaces are important sources of contamination.

Mandatory vaccination “will save 6,500 lives and prevent 250,000 hospitalizations over the next six months,” estimated federal spokeswoman Elizabeth Prelogkar in the Court.

But for the 26 employers“ associations, the measure ”will cause irreparable damage to thousands of businesses“ which will have to finance the cost of tests for unvaccinated workers, or face ”mass redundancies".

Republican states, led by Missouri, are making the same argument to denounce mandatory vaccination of health workers, which they say «threatens to cause a crisis in rural America» as «Millions of workers will be forced to choose between losing their jobs and complying with the illegal obligation.».

The Biden administration replies that in the areas where compulsory vaccination has already been imposed, the withdrawals have been few in the end. It cites the example of a hospital in Houston, Texas, where only 153 employees out of a total of 26 000 resigned in order not to be vaccinated.

Many large American companies, such as the meat industry Tyson Foods or the airline United Airlines, have imposed compulsory vaccination on their employees since the end of September without encountering serious problems.

62% vaccinated

The Supreme Court, which counts six conservative justices out of nine, has so far upheld mandatory vaccination imposed on American universities or by local authorities.

But his judges curtailed some federal violations that had been linked to the covid-19 epidemic, such as the moratorium on evictions.

Their decision on compulsory vaccination is expected in a few weeks.

If the Supreme Court blocks the federal government's measure, it will be a major blow to Biden, who has made dealing with the pandemic a priority and is facing a sharp rise in cases due to the Omicron variant strain.

In the US, where only 62% of the country's residents are fully immunised against covid-19, more than 58 million infections and 833,000 deaths have been recorded.