Holcomb moves to sue over Biden vaccine mandate
FORT WAYNE, Ind. (Fort Wayne’s NBC) - Gov. Eric Holcomb is directing Indiana officials to take legal action that challenges the Biden Administration’s federal COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
Holcomb on Thursday said he has told the Indiana Department of Labor and Attorney General’s Office to craft a lawsuit targeting the requirement that tens of millions of Americans receive COVID-19 vaccination or undergo weekly testing.
“I direct the Indiana Department of Labor to work with the Attorney General on a lawsuit challenging the federal government regarding the OSHA ETS,” Holcomb said in a statement. “This is an overreach of the government’s role in serving and protecting Hoosiers. While I agree that the vaccine is the tool that will best protect against COVID-19, this federal government approach is unprecedented and will bring about harmful, unintended consequences in the supply chain and the workforce.”
Just hours earlier, the federal government set a Jan. 4 deadline for workers at companies with more than 100 employees as well as workers at health care facilities that treat Medicare and Medicaid patients. It also extended a deadline for federal contractors.
The Biden administration says 70% of all adult Americans are now fully vaccinated. The new rules are aimed at the approximately 65 million Americans who remain unvaccinated.
The announcement came after the new mandate took effect Thursday, requiring Americans who work at companies with 100 or more employees to be vaccinated against COVID prior to Jan. 4, 2022 or get tested for the virus weekly.
“A virus that has killed more than 745,000 Americans, with more than 70,000 new cases per day currently, is clearly a health hazard that poses a grave danger to workers,” a senior White House official said in a press briefing. “The new Emergency Temporary Standard is well within OSHA’s authority under the law and consistent with OSHA’s requirements to protect workers from health and safety hazards, including infectious diseases.”
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