Under President Biden’s direction, the Occupational Safety and Public Health Administration (OSHA) issued an emergency temporary standard (EMS), forcing private businesses with over 100 employees to mandate vaccines and enforce burdensome weekly testing requirements on unvaccinated workers, despite administration officials explicitly stating that vaccine mandates are “not the role of the federal government” and admitted that one “cannot force someone to take a vaccine.”
OSHA released the rule on Thursday, which will go into effect January 4. Employers who violate the rules will face hefty fines of $14,000 per violation, which will increase for willful violators, per a Biden administration official.
Under the rule, employers must “maintain a roster of each employee’s vaccination status” and enforce weekly testing requirements on unvaccinated workers. OSHA itself is not requiring the employer to cover the cost of weekly testing, placing the burden squarely on the unvaccinated individual, outside of other regulations or agreements.
OSHA estimates the rule, which came about after Biden told the country his “patience is wearing thin” with unvaccinated Americans, will result in roughly 23 million individuals getting vaccinated.
The rules stand in direct contrast to the narrative members of the Biden administration offered mere months ago.
During a July 23 press briefing, for example, a reporter explicitly asked White House press secretary Jen Psaki if she believed the federal government should “step in and issue” coronavirus mandates. At the time, Psaki did not believe such was within the federal governments purview.
“Well, I think the question here — one, that’s not the role of the federal government; that is the role that institutions, private-sector entities, and others may take,” Psaki, who recently contracted the Chinese coronavirus despite masking and being vaccinated, said.
“That certainly is appropriate. Also, local communities are going to take steps they need to take in order to protect people in their communities,” Psaki continued.
“And we’re going to continue to advocate and work in partnership with local officials and — and trusted voices to get the word out,” she said, suggesting the administration was more focused on combatting “misinformation.”
She is not the only member of the Biden administration to dismiss the thought of forcing the jabs, either. Speaking at a Healthline town hall in August 2020, White House chief medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci said, “I don’t think you’ll ever see a mandating of vaccine, particularly for the general public.”
“If someone refuses the vaccine in the general public, then there’s nothing you can do about that,” he stated, adding that “you cannot force someone to take a vaccine.”
The rule is expected to face a flurry of legal challenges, including one from the state of Florida, as Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said the requirement will be “challenged immediately.”
“That OSHA rule’s going down,” he said last week. “That is not going to be able to stand and so I’m confident of that.”
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