Mississippi attorney general urges Biden to halt or delay federal COVID vaccine mandate
Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch joined 20 of her counterparts from around the country in writing a letter to President Joe Biden, criticizing his executive order requiring federal employees and contractors to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
The Sept. 9 executive order affects two of the Coast’s largest employers: Ingalls Shipbuilding and the John C. Stennis Space Center. In recent weeks, employees at both sites have held protests against the mandate, and some have vowed to quit rather than get the vaccine.
Fitch and colleagues who signed the letter argue that the application of the mandate to contractors is inconsistent.
“We strongly urge you to instruct agencies to cease implementing the mandate or, at a minimum, to provide clarity to agencies and federal contractors across the country and delay the mandate’s compliance date,” the letter said.
The deadline for federal employees and contractors to get vaccinated is Dec. 8, 2021.
The letter says implementing the mandate according to the current timeline will have “disastrous consequences in light of the approaching holiday season.” It cites a trade group representing air cargo companies such as UPS and Fed-Ex that recently told the Biden administration it would be “virtually impossible” to reach full vaccination by the deadline.
The group, the Cargo Airline Association, asked the administration to push back the deadline to the first half of 2022.
The letter from Fitch and her colleagues does not constitute a formal legal challenge to Biden’s executive order.
Fitch also signed a Sept. 16 letter criticizing the administration’s order that employers with more than 100 employees conduct weekly testing of employees who are not vaccinated. That letter said the signatories “will seek every available legal option to hold you accountable and uphold the rule of law” if the administration does not change course.
This story was originally published October 27, 2021 at 4:43 PM.
