Supreme Court considers federal vaccine mandates

Plus: Covid-19 outbreak shuts down ‘Star Trek: Picard’ production

This morning, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments over challenges to two of the federal Covid-19 vaccine mandates. The first is the requirement for all healthcare workers at facilities participating in Medicare and Medicaid to be vaccinated. The second is an OSHA emergency rule requiring all private employers with over 100 employees to mandate either vaccines or regular Covdi-19 testing. Justices seemed to express more concern over the OSHA rule than the Medicare/Medicaid rule, especially the use of emergency procedures rather than the normal course of rulemaking. Some Justices questioned attorneys about whether OSHA was even the proper regulatory body at all, suggesting Congress should be the source of a federal vaccine mandate. That said, the Justices seemed less skeptical about requiring vaccinations for healthcare workers. Appeals courts are at odds over whether the regulations are legal, leaving them in a strange place where they are still enforceable in some states and not in others, which led to attorneys on both sides asking for a quick ruling on the matter. The healthcare worker rule was due to go into effect January 4, but due to the ongoing litigation that date was pushed back to January 27.

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What Else We Are Reading

• Omicron Isn’t Mild for the Health-Care System (The Atlantic) 

• COVID-19 may have killed nearly 3 million in India, far more than official counts show (Science)

• Doctors have an arsenal of Covid-19 treatments, but setbacks and shortages are undercutting options (Stat)