Many Republicans lawmakers are threatening lawsuits against President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine mandates, which will require private companies with 100 or more employees to get everyone vaccinated.
“My office will vigorously oppose any attempt by the federal government to mandate vaccines,” Oklahoma Attorney General John O’Connor said Thursday, according to The Oklahoman. “We respect the right of Oklahoma businesses and individuals to make healthcare decisions for themselves and their families. We are preparing litigation to stand up for our rights and defend the rule of law against the overreach of the federal government.”
So far, South Dakota, North Dakota, and Florida governors have all come out against the mandate.
But Biden argues making COVID-19 vaccines mandatory is not about “freedom,” but safety.
“Many of us are frustrated with the nearly 80 million Americans who are still not vaccinated,” Biden stated. “This is not about freedom from personal choice, it’s about protecting yourself and those around you.”
But, according to Geert Vanden Bossche, mandating mass vaccinations could actually lead to more harm than good.
Bossche, who holds a Ph.D. in Virology from the University of Hohenheim, Germany, had previously predicted such a mandate to get vaccinated, with the current types of vaccines in use, would lead to evolutionary pressures on COVID-19 to develop new variants. Which now seems to be the case.
According to Dr. Sanchari Sinha Dutta, Ph.D., who cites from a preprint study conducted at the University of Melbourne and published Aug. 31, 2021, “the emergence of more deadly variants of concern (VOCs) of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is associated with an induction in episodic evolutionary rate.”
Bossche argues, “conducting mass vaccination campaigns on a background of high infection rates generates optimal conditions for breeding even more infectious Sars-CoV-2 variants. The combination of massive, spike-directed immune pressure combined with high infectious pressure rapidly allows these variants to reproduce more effectively such as to outcompete previously circulating variants/strains. Mass vaccination, therefore, promotes viral evolution toward more infectious variants.”
Adam Childers, the co-chair of Crowe & Dunlevy’s Labor & Employment Practice Group, speculates a lawsuit against Biden’s vaccine mandate would land in front of the Supreme Court.
“The only certainty I have is that a judge will immediately block the rule from taking effect, sending it quickly to Supreme Court justices,” where the legality of Biden’s mandate will be debated, Childers said.
For now, though, it is uncertain when the mandate will go into effect. According to the White House, OSHA is anticipated to announce the rule “in the coming weeks.” For unvaccinated employees, they will be required to submit to a weekly test. But violating these terms could result in a $14,000 fine for the employer from OSHA.
