Federal appeals court reinstates Biden's vaccine mandate for large companies

A federal appeals court on Friday reinstated the Biden administration's vaccine mandate for businesses with at least 100 workers.

Why it matters: The administration paused enforcement of the mandate, which requires companies to ensure their workers are fully vaccinated or tested weekly by Jan. 4, 2022, after a separate federal circuit court last month deemed it "staggeringly overbroad."

Republican attorneys general, private companies and some industry groups sued to challenge the requirement and the Justice Department asked that the cases be consolidated.

What they're saying: A three-judge panel on 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati ruled Friday that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), which issued the mandate, "demonstrated the pervasive danger that COVID-19 poses to workers—unvaccinated workers in particular—in their workplaces."

The divided court also dismissed the argument that OSHA exceeded its authority, writing that "OSHA has regulated workplace health and safety, including diseases, for decades."

The mandate is "an important step in curtailing the transmission of a deadly virus that has killed over 800,000 people in the United States, brought our healthcare system to its knees, forced businesses to shut down for months on end, and cost hundreds of thousands of workers their jobs."