It’s official. The private employer vaccine mandate that OSHA tried to implement is DOA. That announcement was quietly put into the Federal Register today, and will be official as of tomorrow morning. 

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration is withdrawing the vaccination and testing emergency temporary standard issued on Nov. 5, 2021, to protect unvaccinated employees of large employers with 100 or more employees from workplace exposure to coronavirus. The withdrawal is effective January 26, 2022.

Although OSHA is withdrawing the vaccination and testing ETS as an enforceable emergency temporary standard, the agency is not withdrawing the ETS as a proposed rule. The agency is prioritizing its resources to focus on finalizing a permanent COVID-19 Healthcare Standard.

OSHA strongly encourages vaccination of workers against the continuing dangers posed by COVID-19 in the workplace.

Needless to say, this is a good thing and not unexpected after the Supreme Court issued its ruling. Furthermore, as the lower courts started following suit and essentially informed OSHA and the Biden Administration that their OSHA ETS vaccine and test mandate was a a HUGE government overreach, it was just a matter of when, not IF the agency would drop the rule. 

Of course, this government overreach disguised as a mandate was a push from the Biden Administration to act like they were DOING SOMETHING!

The mandate was expected to apply to 84 million people, and officials said early on that it would protect thousands of workers from hospitalization or death.

“OSHA estimates that this rule will save thousands of lives and prevent over 250,000 hospitalizations during the six months after implementation,” one official said in November.

But the mandate was immediately hit with legal challenges, including from more than two dozen Republican attorneys general who argued in multiple lawsuits that the Biden administration did not have constitutional authority to implement the OSHA mandate.

Biden decided to mandate vaccines and tests by ordering private companies to comply or face thousands in fines. All in order to continue to snow people into believing that this heroic Administration would get rid of Covid once and for all. 

As we and many others pointed out, OSHA has a history of having ETS rules get thrown out of court. Why? Because, as with this vaccine and test mandate, it’s a massive overreach. 

Furthermore, while this mandate against the private employers is no longer, OSHA is trying to save face by earnestly saying that they are proposing the mandate becomes a legal regulation.

“OSHA is evaluating the record and the evolving course of the pandemic. OSHA has made no determinations at this time about when or if it will finalize a Vaccination and Testing rule. The agency intends to work expeditiously to issue a final standard that will protect healthcare workers from COVID-19 hazards,” the spokesperson said.

The ONLY way that will happen is if Congress acts, and they’ve not made one single move this year to do so. Why? Because it’s a bad look for them and even with all the Covid hysteria, you can darned well bet each member of Congress does NOT want to piss off all the private employers in their respective states. 

https://twitter.com/RepFredKeller/status/1486022455823159300?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1486022455823159300%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Ftownhall.com%2Ftipsheet%2Fleahbarkoukis%2F2022%2F01%2F25%2Fbreaking-biden-admin-osha-mandate-n2602344

Keep in mind, this is the second ETS relating to Covid that they had to withdraw. At the end of December OSHA withdrew the healthcare ETS as well. Meanwhile, as the article notes, OSHA has been working on an infectious disease standard since 2010. If Covid was THAT URGENT, why is there still regulation in place? Something to think about for sure! 

Again, the ETS is DOA, but it’s highly evident that OSHA won’t let the matter drop entirely. As I noted above, the agency wants a formal, LEGAL rule put in place.

OSHA is officially withdrawing the test-or-vaxx mandate, effective tomorrow.

However, it is only withdrawing the ETS. It is still going forward with rulemaking to make a mandate permanent. https://t.co/QlvxZGuwwT

— Gabriel Malor (@gabrielmalor) January 25, 2022

Given how the agency and the Biden Administration are currently operating, does anyone believe that that will happen anytime soon? Not hardly, yet it’s also something we should keep an eye on. 

Keep in mind, this major private employer already dropped their vaccine mandate. 

I certainly didn’t see that one coming! It will be interesting to see what other private companies drop their vaccine and test mandates as well. Particularly in light of the fact that OSHA has now formally dumped the ETS. 

OSHA dropping the private employer vaccine mandate is yet another sign that the Biden Administration continues to fumble the ball. Biden’s Covid response has been one failure after another. Add the OSHA ETS to that long list. 

Feature Photo Credit: Original Artwork by Victory Girls Darleen Click