COVID-19 live updates: US at ‘inflection point’ heading into winter months
Over two dozen states have filed lawsuits aimed at dismantling the Biden administration’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate that affects nearly two-thirds of the workforce.
Nearly 100 million workers will be required to get the vaccine by Jan. 4, with some allowed to test weekly instead, under federal rules released Thursday.
Since then, five lawsuits involving 26 Republican-led states combined have been filed in federal court seeking to overturn what they claim is an unlawful mandate.
Seven states — Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee and West Virginia — filed a lawsuit against OSHA in the 6th Circuit.
Eleven others — Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Iowa, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming — joined together to file a lawsuit against Biden and OSHA in the 8th Circuit.
Five states — Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas and Utah — filed a lawsuit against OSHA in the 5th Circuit, and three more — Alabama, Florida and Georgia — filed in the 11th Circuit.
The Biden administration has said lawsuits were expected but that the federal government should win in court.
“The administration clearly has the authority to protect workers, and actions announced by the president are designed to save lives and stop the spread of COVID,” White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said Thursday.
-ABC News’ Cheyenne Haslett
