Supreme Court Misses Key Opportunity to Affirm Workplace Safety Rules; Many Businesses Enact Vaccine Policies Regardless

New ruling tragically all but guarantees further loss of life and significant ongoing dangers to workers and customers across the country

January 13, 2022

Washington, D.C. – Today the Supreme Court overturned the Biden Administration’s vaccine-or-test requirement for businesses with over 100 employees, blocking safeguards to protect workers from the spread of COVID-19, and putting millions of employees’ and customers’ lives needlessly at risk. 

“We’re extremely disappointed by the Supreme Court’s ruling, which is tragically all but guaranteed to result in further loss of life and significant ongoing dangers to workers and customers across the country,” says Made to Save’s Executive Director, Chris Wyant. “While we recognize this as a significant setback, we are heartened to see that many businesses have already enacted and continue to enforce equitable vaccine policies, and still others are coming to recognize vaccine policies as their best and safest path forward. 

Hospitals across the country are getting overwhelmed with COVID-19, but we see that most people getting very sick are unvaccinated or are medically vulnerable. Vaccines save lives. Businesses can still choose to protect their workplaces and workers, and Made to Save is ready to provide the resources they need through our Vaccines at Work Initiative.”

This is a crucial moment in Made to Save’s efforts to support businesses of all sizes considering vaccine policies in the absence of a federal requirement. 

While some businesses will continue enacting vaccine policies, the lack of a national requirement and federal enforcement mechanisms puts undue burden on businesses to make these policy decisions on their own. 

As Omicron threatens the safety of employees and customers, the work to support businesses and their employees—especially communities hardest by the pandemic—is critical. People of color are already at higher risk of contracting or dying from COVID-19, overrepresented in many frontline occupations, and face a long history of medical racism. Uncontrolled spread of COVID-19 has the largest impact on communities of color. 

That’s why Made to Save has partnered with Health Action Alliance on an initiative called Vaccines at Work to help both large and small businesses educate workers and remove access barriers to ensure their employees are vaccinated. Through this initiative, more than 250 employers across the country have attended expert-led trainings and events, and Made to Save’s resources have now reached more than 250,000 workers. The Vaccines at Work Initiative puts an explicit focus on equity and ensuring that workers and families are supported as employers create policies to safeguard against COVID-19. The Initiative has also trained over 100 community-based organizations, local government agencies, and healthcare providers to support and encourage their local businesses to establish vaccine policies, providing key resource-sharing infrastructure in the absence of any federal requirement.

To save lives and livelihoods, we urge businesses of all sizes to take action on vaccine requirements, centering equity and access as they do. Learn more here.

ABOUT MADE TO SAVE

Made to Save is a national public education campaign rooted in grassroots organizing. Our goal is to build trust in the COVID-19 vaccines and increase access in communities who have been hit the hardest by this pandemic. Learn more here.

Made to Save an initiative of Civic Nation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.