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'Idaho prevailed:' Little praises withdrawal of OSHA vaccine mandate

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration rule would have applied to businesses with 100 or more employees, affecting an estimated 84 million Americans.

BOISE, Idaho — Idaho Gov. Brad Little celebrated the withdrawal of the emergency mandate that larger businesses require their employees to get vaccinated against COVID-19 or test regularly for the infectious disease. 

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration rule would have applied to businesses with 100 or more employees, affecting an estimated 84 million Americans.

The U.S. Supreme Court essentially struck down the mandate, and it was withdrawn. A vaccine mandate that applies to healthcare workers remains in place.

Idaho had joined three multi-state lawsuits against vaccine mandates, and both the governor and Attorney General Lawrence Wasden praised the OSHA mandate's withdrawal.

"Biden's attempts to fast track a vaccine mandate on America's workforce failed. Idaho prevailed in our fight to protect the rights of Idaho workers from Biden's illegal vaccine mandate on private businesses. The news that the Biden Administration withdrew the emergency mandate puts an exclamation point on the states' hard-fought legal battle to uphold state sovereignty and protect Americans from an overreaching federal government. We remain vigilant and continue to work for Idahoans to guard against future government overreach," Little and Wasden said in a joint statement.

OSHA is continuing to advocate for workers to get vaccinated against COVID-19, which has killed 4,357 Idahoans and more than 875,000 Americans.

"OSHA strongly encourages vaccination of workers against the continuing dangers posed by COVID-19 in the workplace," the U.S. Labor Department said in Tuesday's announcement. 

At KTVB, we’re focusing our news coverage on the facts and not the fear around the virus. To see our full coverage, visit our coronavirus section, here: www.ktvb.com/coronavirus.

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