Controversy in Covid testing/vaccination procedures in the US – Should there be regulations?
Currently, there is significant controversy, often along partisan lines, over government policy in dealing with Covid. The U.S. government under President Biden has ordered larger companies to require their employees to have Covid vaccination or weekly testing. This was done in the interest of public health as an attempt to prevent the spread of Covid and to protect workers at their jobs by reducing as much as possible additional deaths and hospitalizations. Some states adopted policies that would penalize companies unless they provide broad exemptions, that might make the regulations less effective for public health purposes. Their position was that the Federal government does not have the power to mandate these policies because they interfere with citizens’ liberties and beliefs, and ultimately their right to make their own choices on the vaccine. The Supreme Court recently decided that the U.S. Government rules requiring bigger companies to mandate vaccinations or testing violated the constitution and therefore could not be implemented. This points out differences of view that can arise as a result of the Federal nature of our political system, where certain powers are reserved for the Federal government and certain powers are reserved to the states. So there are two interrelated questions in this topic to address, along with your reasoning and references:
The policy itself – should there be government vaccine/testing regulations on companies that require their employees to follow these procedures? Why or why not?
To what extent would you agree or disagree that this policy would violate the U.S. Constitution (and why?). Here you may consider whether or not there is a constitutional basis for this Federal policy? Again, provide explanation and references
This article (Links to an external site.)provides some background on the Federal/State issue, and this one (Links to an external site.) discusses the Supreme Court decision. Feel free to look into additional sources.