President Joe Biden’s new OSHA rule requiring businesses to have their employees vaccinated against COVID is a dangerous overreach of federal power and opposed by Newsmax.
The new OSHA rule is set to go into effect Jan. 4, 2022. It will require businesses of 100 or more to have all employees fully vaccinated or undergo weekly testing.
Newsmax has no vaccine mandate nor do we require it for employment.
We have informed our staff of the upcoming federal rule.
At the same time we have notified staff we will create an easy opt-out for any employee who does not want to be vaccinated.
Under the rule, any employee who is not vaccinated will be tested for COVID on a weekly basis.
Newsmax is going beyond the OSHA rule to provide free weekly testing on its company premises.
No Newsmax employee will be forced to receive the vaccine or be fired for not doing so.
Still, the federal work rules are not good and probably illegal.
The Biden administration’s decision to implement an OSHA requirement is a dangerous overreach of federal power.
To date, the federal government, through the CDC and other agencies, have provided COVID guidance to states and localities.
States, in turn, have implemented their own rules in dealing with the pandemic. This approach has been working.
The federal government has never before mandated a vaccine for citizens across the country.
It is also important to remember no state has yet to require a COVID vaccine for its population.
Now the Biden administration is using authority intended for workplace safety to bypass the traditional governmental approach to health safety.
Not surprisingly, several lawsuits have been filed to block this misuse of power and stop the implementation of the OSHA mandate.
On Friday the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit ordered a stay on implementing the business mandate.
The court’s three-judge panel stated they had “cause to believe there are grave statutory and constitutional issues with the mandate.”
This is a positive development. Newsmax is monitoring this case and other legal actions while exploring our own legal options.
Meanwhile, by engaging in an unprecedented power grab, the Biden administration is taking its eye off the ball.
Efforts to encourage voluntary vaccinations have been working, with many states reporting around 70% or more of their populations are vaccinated.
Even with no business mandate in effect today, both COVID cases and deaths are falling dramatically.
The vaccine, which has been demonstrated to be safe and effective, is clearly playing a role.
Newsmax has encouraged citizens, especially those at risk, to get immunized.
As a company we have seen first-hand how those at risk have suffered without the vaccine. In 2020, Newsmax lost its contributor Herman Cain due to the coronavirus.
And radio hosts like Dick Farrel, Phil Valentine, and Marc Bernier have all died as a result of not having taken the vaccine.
While the vaccine works, so does natural immunity.
Several studies show natural immunity provides even more protection than the vaccine.
The major media has berated us to “follow the science,” but they ignore the science on natural immunity. Why?
And why are employees, for example, not given an exemption if they have strong antibodies?
At Newsmax we do not ignore the science nor the facts.
President Donald Trump provided the funding for the vaccine and cut through the red tape to see it implemented.
And Trump himself has been vaccinated. Publicly, he has encouraged others to receive the vaccine.
Just this past March, Trump said, “I would recommend it, and I would recommend it to a lot of people that don’t want to get it and a lot of those people voted for me, frankly.”
“But it is a great vaccine. It is a safe vaccine and it is something that works,” he added.
His approach is the right way.
Government provides an opportunity, but an informed citizenry in a free nation should make its own health decisions.
