SCOTUS Declines to Hear Case on Vaccine Mandates

Improve the News Foundation -

Facts

  • SCOTUS on Monday declined to hear a case brought by Missouri and nine other states challenging the Biden admin.'s COVID vaccine mandate for workers in healthcare facilities that receive federal funds.
  • In January, the court voted 5-4 - with conservative justices John Roberts and Brett Kavanaugh siding with more liberal judges - to allow the mandate to continue while arguments played out in lower courts.
  • In the majority opinion from January, SCOTUS wrote that the Dept. of Health and Human Services could continue its mandate given that the "core mission" of workers dealing with Medicare and Medicaid patients is "to protect their patients' health and safety."
  • The plaintiffs, however, argue that the mandate - which affects 10.4M workers nationwide, minus some religious and medical exemptions - has allegedly exacerbated healthcare worker shortages and is "now devastating small, rural, and community-based healthcare facilities."
  • Also in January, SCOTUS voted 6-3 overruling the Biden admin.'s vaccine mandate for businesses with 100 or more employees, stating that the Office of Occupational Safety and Health Admin. overstepped its authority.

Sources: Reuters, FOX News, USA Today, and Yahoo.

Narratives

  • Democratic narrative, as provided by New Hampshire Union Leader. Not only has SCOTUS established the Biden administration's legal grounds for its vaccine mandate, but it's also expressed the moral duty of every healthcare worker to "do no harm." The vaccine mandate is for the good of the caregiver, the patient, and the US as a nation. This mandate is a prudent health and safety measure.
  • Republican narrative, as provided by The Washington Examiner. Though his White House handlers have worked to backtrack his statement, Pres. Biden, as well as Dr. Fauci, have declared the pandemic "over," so why are millions of healthcare workers still under the emergency power-induced vaccine mandate? This policy corrals more patients onto Medicaid and then uses the "federally funded" argument to force those patients' caregivers to get the jab.