In his most forceful pandemic actions and words, President Joe Biden on Thursday ordered sweeping new federal vaccine requirements for as many as 100 million Americans — private-sector employees as well as health care workers and federal contractors — in an all-out effort to curb the surging COVID-19 delta variant.Does the President have the authority to impose such rules? VOX Magazine breaks it down, citing that:
As expected, Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida threatened to ‘take action.’Governor Greg Abbott of Texas pushed back calling it an “unconstitutional” and “dictatorial” overreach. Yahoo News breaks it down here.Let’s get one thing out of the way first: Vaccine mandates are not unconstitutional. The Supreme Court upheld a local health board’s decision to mandate smallpox vaccinations in Jacobson v. Massachusetts (1905). And states routinely require nearly all school-age children to receive a long list of vaccines.
In Georgia, for example, nearly all children must be vaccinated against many diseases, including polio, hepatitis B, measles, mumps, rubella, varicella, tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis, meningitis, and septicemia.
Biden Calls for New Vaccine Rules
And these — and other governors — are getting vocal support for conservative media, who continue to push back on vaccines, while many themselves have been vaccinated. Leading Fox talking head, Tucker Carlson, as recently as one month ago is still questioning people getting vaccinated. Four months ago he in an interview he called forcing kids to wear masks outdoors is akin to child abuse. This all despite that Fox News itself is urging people to ‘get vaccinated.’
Back in July, Hannity reversed course and made an urgent plea for viewers to get vaccinated. But other hosts continued to push back on vaccines.In This SegmentDr. Rossi, PhD discusses the conflicts around the new Biden Calls for New Vaccine Rules
