Dr. Vivek Murthy, the U.S. Surgeon General, urged American businesses Sunday to implement their own COVID-19 vaccine requirements to blunt the pandemic after the Supreme Court’s recent decision to block President Joe Biden’s mandate for large employers.
Biden had ordered large companies to require that workers be vaccinated or be tested weekly, but last week in a 6-3 decision the Supreme Court said Congress had never empowered the executive branch to make such a sweeping order.
The ruling came as the highly contagious omicron variant has brought case levels to unprecedented highs, with the nation now averaging about 800,000 new cases daily, according to The New York Times.
The court did, however, allow Biden’s vaccine mandate when it came to workers in health care systems that receive federal aid.
Murthy told ABC News’ “This Week” that the Supreme Court’s decision on Biden’s employer mandate was a “setback for public health.”
“The news about the workplace requirement being blocked was very disappointing,” he said. “Because what these requirements ultimately are helpful for, is not just protecting the community at large, but making our workplaces safer for workers, as well as for customers.”
“The good news, though, is that there is nothing that stops workplaces from voluntarily putting reasonable requirements in place,” he added. “In fact, many have done so already. A third of the Fortune 100 companies have put these in place and many outside have. We certainly encouraging companies to put reasonable requirements in place voluntarily.”
A host of major U.S. companies, ranging from transportation and food to financial services and retail, have already installed mandates or certain vaccination or testing requirements for workers, particularly if they deal with the public or want to return to an office setting.
According to NBC News, American Express, Amtrak, Cisco, CVS, Delta, United, Southwest, General Electric, Google, Microsoft, McDonald’s, Uber, Disney and several others have some vaccine requirements in place. Walmart has issued a requirement for corporate employees and new hires, but not across the entire company. Amazon and JP Morgan Chase have not implemented company-wide vaccine requirements, according to The New York Times.
Murthy lauded the court’s decision on health care systems, noting that it meant “17 million health care workers are still required to get vaccinated. That will help create a safer environment for health care workers, as well as for patients.”
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