Judge blocks Biden mandate requiring COVID vaccination for federal employees
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A federal judge in Texas has ruled that the Biden administration cannot require federal employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
The ruling by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Brown comes in response to an order impacting 3.5M employees requiring them to be vaccinated by Nov. 22, 2021 or else face disciplinary action and even firing.

Brown said the issue boiled down to whether Biden could "require millions of federal employees to undergo a medical procedure as a condition of their employment. That, under the current state of the law as just recently expressed by the Supreme Court, is a bridge too far."

Reuters reported that the ruling stated that the federal government could enhance public health through less intrusive measures such as social distancing and masks.
The Department of Justice said it plans to appeal.
Vaccine manufacturers: Pfizer (PFE
-2.6%), BioNTech (BNTX
-4.6%), Moderna (MRNA
-4.6%), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ
-0.3%), AstraZeneca (AZN
-1.6%), and Novavax (NVAX
-4.4%).
The Texas ruling follows two Supreme Court decisions earlier this month impacting vaccine mandates for private employees and healthcare workers.
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