Predawn mandate legal circus news roundup, with a side order of Pfizer competition corporate activity.
First, let's feed the sharks and jump into the legal wrangling.
More states have joined the tide of lawsuits against the federal vaccine mandate -- the
tally is now up to 27 states having formally begun litigation. (
Archive) The geographic spread of the new players joining the game now means there are suits active in four federal court circuits. This is significant as it increases the odds that what's called a circuit split happens, where different courts produce conflicting decisions on what should happen. Historically, that's been a motivation boost to the US Supreme Court to don their janny hats and intervene to clean up the mess.
Missouri's lawsuit was joined by the
Republican attorneys general of Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming. Also joining the lawsuit was the office of Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller, the only Democratic attorney general to take part in the legal challenges to the mandate.
Other coalitions of states also filed lawsuits Friday: Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas, Utah in the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals; Kansas, Kentucky, Idaho, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee and West Virginia in the Cincinnati-based 6th Circuit; and Alabama, Florida and Georgia in the Atlanta-based 11th Circuit. Later Friday, Indiana filed in the Chicago-based 7th Circuit.
Benjamin Noren, a New York-based labor lawyer, said he thought the rule is likely to be struck down because OSHA was intended to deal with workplace hazards such as chemicals, not a virus. He said OSHA has made 10 emergency rules in the last five decades. Of the six that were challenged, only one survived intact.
Current and former members of the military are also joining the fray -- namely, 26 Navy Seals and a smattering of adjacent Navy personnel are suing on First Amendment grounds over the denial of their requests for religious exemptions. (
Archive link only, no direct, because the site blocks viewing without enabling ads.)
The legal filing explains that the service members have all sought religious exemptions, though the Navy hadn’t granted any as of Oct. 28, according to a spokesperson for the military branch.
The service members don’t object to standard COVID-19 precautions, including wearing a mask, social distancing, regular testing, and teleworking, according to the lawsuit. Additionally, Berry explained that the lawsuit isn’t seeking to get the entire vaccination mandate overturned, rather they are seeking to get the military to approve religious exemptions.
Five medical exemptions have been approved.
Men with guns on boats are also joined by men with stuff on trucks --
a convoy of national and state trucking and logistics professional organizations are suing over the mandate, requesting a stay on its implementation. (
Archive) Looks like the Teamsters and railroad guys have some more company in court.
American Trucking Associations, along with three state trucking associations and a number of groups representing various facets of the supply chain, have sued the Biden Administration over its employer-based COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
Those joining in the lawsuit, filed on Nov. 9 with the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, included the Louisiana Motor Truck Association, the Mississippi Trucking Association, Texas Trucking Association, the Food Marketing Institute, the International Warehouse Logistics Association, the National Association of Convenience Stores, the National Retail Federation, the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors and the National Federation of Independent Business.
“We are asking the court to stay implementation of the mandate because we believe the Occupational Safety and Health Administration did not satisfy the statutory requirements for issuing this Emergency Temporary Standard instead of going through the proper rulemaking process,” said Nicholas Geale, ATA vice president of workforce policy. “A stay pending full review is essential to ensure our members can continue to keep the supply chain moving without the enormous disruptions this unlawful ETS will cause the trucking industry and our nation’s consumers – including the 80% of American communities that depend exclusively on trucks for their needs.”
Shifting focus from the courtroom to the boardroom, here's an update on one of Pfizer's rivals. AstraZeneca's refusing to give up on making money off of COVID, despite the problems they've run into getting their vaccine accepted by different countries. The company's
decided to reorganize and set up a separate, dedicated division purely for vaccine and antibody therapies, with a core focus on COVID. (
Archive)
The new division, which will be led by executive vice-president of Europe and Canada, Iskra Reic, will combine research and development, manufacturing, as well as commercial and medical teams, a company spokesperson said.
"The team will be dedicated to our COVID-19 vaccine, our long-acting antibody combination and our developmental vaccine addressing multiple variants of concern, as well as to our existing portfolio for respiratory viral disease," the representative said.
"Vaccines is not a traditional area of strength (for AstraZeneca) ... but the new group structure suggests the company is looking to pull together certain operations across its portfolio to ensure they operate more effectively and more profitably," AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould said.
spectator.com.au
It's shitty because I've spent like 100 hours reading all this stuff over the last two years and it really makes me wonder about it all. I think, if nothing else, any published journal report should have all the data used to draw conclusions/create charts and graphs/etc. available in the public domain. This is ridiculous.
