| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 10, 2022 |
PRESS CONTACT Claire Murchison claire@firesidecampaigns.com |
Health Care Voices Founder Laura Packard Condemns Supreme Court Decision to Block OSHA COVID-19 Vaccine Requirement, Endanger Millions of Workers
DENVER — Yesterday, the Supreme Court blocked Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)’s vax-or-test vaccine requirement aimed at employees of large businesses, but allowed a vaccine mandate for select health care workers to go into effect nationwide.
The decision, which undermines President Biden’s attempts to use the federal government to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, comes after the Court heard oral arguments on two separate cases. One case focused on the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requirement that employers with more than 100 employees must ensure that their workers are either vaccinated or tested weekly, and the other on the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) requirement that workers at health care facilities which accept Medicare and Medicaid funds must be vaccinated.
Health Care Voices Founder Laura Packard issued the following statement:
“As a cancer survivor who will live with a pre-existing condition for the rest of my life, the Supreme Court’s OSHA decision will mean life or death for many Americans like me—a dramatic judicial overreach that will prolong the COVID-19 pandemic and endanger millions amid the worst public health crisis in a century. Americans deserve a safe workplace. But ultra-conservative justices have, once again, prioritized politics over people. This goes against the Court’s very own rules; they’ve actively decided to ignore the safety policies they extend to their own employees for the rest of us.”
“I am outraged that, nearly two years into this pandemic with no end in sight, this decision will mean more disease, disruption and death, as well as endanger those who desperately need to return to in-person work to provide for themselves and their families. A safe workplace is OSHA’s responsibility, and the Supreme Court has just hamstrung them.”
Laura Packard is the founder of Health Care Voices, executive director of Health Care Voter, and a stage-4 cancer survivor. The Affordable Care Act saved her life. She is a co-host of Care Talk, a call-in health care show on act.tv to answer America’s health insurance questions about the ACA, Medicare and Medicaid (airing Mondays at 4pm ET). If you’d like to connect with Laura to discuss the devastating impact of the Supreme Court’s OSHA decision, please reach out to claire@firesidecampaigns.com.
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