Majority Of Americans Still Want Employer Vaccine Mandates After Supreme Court Blocks Biden Policy, Poll Finds

Topline

A majority of Americans continue to believe employers should require their workers to get vaccinated against coronavirus, according to a Morning Consult poll, after the U.S. Supreme Court temporarily blocked the Biden administration’s vaccine-or-test mandate for large employers on Thursday and left companies to decide whether or not to keep their requirements in place.

Key Facts

What To Watch For

What companies will do now that the federal rule isn’t in effect. Workwear brand Carhartt has drawn both support and calls for boycotts for saying it intends to keep its vaccine policy in effect, and major banks like JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Morgan Stanley have held firm to their vaccine mandates. “Wells Fargo will continue our testing program,” a spokesperson told Forbes earlier this week about its vaccine-or-test policy in light of the Supreme Court’s ruling. “We believe it’s the right thing to do for the safety of all employees and our customers.” A sizable number of employers are expected to drop their mandates, however, with a November poll conducted by Willis Towers Watson finding 37% of companies surveyed would only require vaccines if the federal government’s policy took effect.

Tangent

Companies’ vaccine policies will also now be contingent on state and local rules regarding employer vaccine mandates, which would have been previously likely been trumped by the federal rule. Fourteen states have policies banning Covid-19 vaccine mandates, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, while New York City has imposed its own vaccine mandate for all in-person workers. A further 20 states also have more limited workplace mandates in effect, according to KFF, such as for state employees, school employees or healthcare workers.

Key Background

The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 on Thursday to temporarily block the Biden administration’s large employer policy while litigation against it moves forward. The rule, which applied to all employers with more than 100 workers and required either Covid-19 vaccinations or regular testing, had taken effect days before after an appeals court had reinstated it, though the federal government had not yet started enforcing the testing requirement. The Supreme Court ruled the Biden administration likely did not have the authority to impose the emergency rule and said it should be left to Congress to decide. Justices also said they believed the vaccination requirement was a “significant encroachment” into employees’ lives given its effect beyond just the workplace, and claimed letting the federal government “regulate the hazards of daily life” would significantly expand its authority. The workplace rule was one of four vaccination policies the Biden administration had imposed; mandates for federal employees and healthcare workers—which the Supreme Court separately upheld—are now in effect, but a requirement for federal contractors was also blocked in court.

Further Reading

Following Supreme Court’s Decision to Nix Federal Vaccine Requirement for Private Workers, More Than 1 in 2 Adults Say They Back Mandates by Employers (Morning Consult)

What To Know About Biden’s Vaccine Mandates After Supreme Court Blocked Private Employer Rule (Forbes)

Supreme Court Blocks Biden’s Private Employer Vaccine Mandate But Lets Healthcare Rule Take Effect (Forbes)

Here’s Who’s Most—And Least—Likely To Support Vaccine Mandates In The Workplace (Forbes)

Here’s Why A Leaked Letter From Carhartt’s CEO Sparked An Online Debate On Vaccine Mandates (Forbes)

Jamie Dimon Doesn’t Care What The Supreme Court Says About Covid-19 Vaccines (Forbes)

Full coverage and live updates on the Coronavirus