President Biden is moving forward with a sweeping plan to require companies with 100 or more employees to ensure their workforces are either “fully vaccinated” or test negative for Covid-19 at least once a week. The U.S. Labor Department will be challenged with writing the new mandate via an expedited rulemaking process.

• OSHA’s Expedited Action: DOL’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration is developing an emergency rule, which the White House anticipates will apply to more than 80 million private-sector workers. The rule would be an emergency temporary standard, meaning it will undergo an expedited review process before taking effect and won’t involve solicitation of public comment.
• Business End: Employers, who could face up to $14,000 per violation, must offer workers paid time off to get vaccinated and to recover from any side-effects. Details are currently unclear on the parameters of the rulemaking, such as how employers would be required to distinguish between vaccinated and non-vaccinated workers.

In Favor:

"I’m announcing that the Department of Labor is developing an emergency rule to require all employers with 100 or more employees, that together employ over 80 million workers, to ensure their workforces are fully vaccinated or show a negative test at least once a week.

Some of the biggest companies are already requiring this: United Airlines, Disney, Tysons [sic] Food, and even Fox News.

The bottom line: We’re going to protect vaccinated workers from unvaccinated co-workers.  We’re going to reduce the spread of COVID-19 by increasing the share of the workforce that is vaccinated in businesses all across America," said President Biden.

In Opposition:

Those against the mandate argue regardless of the merits of the vaccine, or if one should take it or not, this is an evil road to go down. What would be next? A mandate on restaurants to ban red meat and French fries due to society’s health impact and cost to taxpayers.

Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX) has proposed a bill aimed at banning vaccine mandates. The bill would prohibit mandating any vaccine that was originally authorized for emergency use by the Food and Drug Administration – even if it later received full approval – which applies to all three coronavirus vaccines authorized in the U.S. It also requires parents to sign off before vaccines can be administered to anyone under 18 years old, curbing the ability of schools to mandate vaccines.

"President Biden's latest and most far-reaching COVID mandate completely ignores science. Forcibly vaccinating people who already have immunity ignores medical data and is a brazen violation of Americans' privacy rights.

"The federal government has no authority to force businesses across the country to mandate their employees get vaccinated. American businesses are still recovering from this past year and a half. It is cruel and burdensome to impose this authoritarian mandate.

While I support the vaccine and have received it, Americans have the right to exercise personal choice when it comes to their health. Getting the vaccine is a decision to be made in consultation with one's doctor, not forced on Americans by the government. With these new mandates, President Biden and his administration have chosen to put politics over science and the rights of Americans once again." -- Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX)

States, generally speaking, have the police power to mandate vaccines or masks, however, it is argued that the Federal government does not have such police powers.

Is President Biden’s vaccine mandate on business a legitimate police power of the federal government, or a government overreach?