At what point is the anti-Covid vaccination obligation in the United States?
The measures announced by Biden for mandatory vaccination in the United States are encountering difficulties. Facts, numbers and reactions on what is happening in the States
About 80% of Americans have received at least one dose of the vaccine and more than 70% have been fully vaccinated, but according to President Joe Biden it is still not enough to fight the virus that is starting to make itself felt again.
However, his measures to convince as many citizens as possible to get vaccinated clash with the courts and some states. So here is what is happening in the United States on mandatory vaccination.
BIDEN'S EXECUTIVE ORDERS FOR VACCINATION OBLIGATION
"Patience is wearing thin," Biden said in September of "a minority of Americans, supported by a minority of government officials" who "continue to create problems" because they are not vaccinated.
Meanwhile, Biden had issued two executive orders to deal with this group of people. With one it imposed the vaccination obligation by November 22 on all federal workers and with the other it introduced new obligations for companies. In particular, the workers of companies with more than 100 employees by January 4, 2022 should have been vaccinated or carried out at least one test a week, under penalty of fines of up to 14,000 dollars.
These measures, the President recalled, potentially affect over 100 million Americans, including about 84 million private sector workers.
THE UPWARD ROAD OF BIDEN
However, Biden's projects face some difficulties. A Louisiana Federal Court of Appeals, in fact, writes the BBC , argues that there are "serious statutory and constitutional problems" with the law concerning companies and has therefore temporarily suspended the mandate. If applied, the ruling would represent a severe blow to Biden's fight against the pandemic .
THE STATES OPPOSING THE VACCINATION OBLIGATION
Five Republican-led states – Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Utah – as well as private corporations and religious groups, are opposing through legal channels and claim the President has overstepped his authority.
Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry tweeted that the court's decision was a "great victory for the freedom of employers and their employees."
In a major win for the liberty of job creators and their employees, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit just halted the Biden Administration's attempt to force vaccines on businesses with 100 or more workers.
– AG Jeff Landry (@AGJeffLandry) November 6, 2021
Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott, opposed to government executive orders on vaccines and face masks, also welcomed the court's decision.
Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds, in a video on Twitter , spoke of Biden's "abuse of power" and added that these kinds of measures will only "worsen labor shortages and supply chain problems. that hinder the recovery ".
WHO ARE THOSE FEDERAL WORKERS WHO DON'T WANT TO BE VACCINATED
But before he even cares for company employees, AP points out , Biden needs to make sure workers in his own federal government get the vaccinations. It would be about 4 million people.
White House employees, according to the news agency, are nearly all vaccinated, but rates are lower for other federal agencies, especially those related to law enforcement and intelligence.
As Chris Stewart, a Utah Republican and member of the House Intelligence Committee, recalled, several intelligence agencies had at least 20 percent of their workforce unvaccinated at the end of October.
US Customs and Border Protection, according to the union representing Border Patrol agents, has received at least 6,000 requests for medical or religious exemption.
THE MEASURES
Federal agencies are doing everything to encourage workers to get vaccinated. However, those who do not do so by November 22 will not be fired, but will receive "advice" and five days to "start the vaccination process". Only then could they be suspended for 14 days and eventually fired, but the process would take months.
Republicans James Comer of Kentucky and Jody Hice of Georgia said in a letter they were concerned about a large number of posts in the government that would remain vacant if thousands of workers refused the vaccination and were fired. The same concern was also shared by those at the Bureau of Prisons, already understaffed.
FIGHTING DIFFIDENCE
Although numerous clinical studies and independent reviews have shown the extreme effectiveness of Covid vaccines in preventing serious forms of infection, as well as death, a survey by AP reports that a third of adults in the United States were skeptical earlier this year. .
VACCINATION DATA IN THE UNITED STATES
Vaccinations took place at uneven rates across the federal government. Currently, more than 222 million Americans (80%) have received at least one dose of the vaccine and more than 193 million are fully vaccinated (70%).
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/a-che-punto-obbligo-vaccinale-anti-covid-negli-stati-uniti/ on Mon, 08 Nov 2021 10:11:49 +0000.