After a federal court reinstated the rule, the Biden administration will give employers more time to comply.
The Department of Labor granted the extension after the US Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit allowed the requirement to proceed. The OSHA requirement was within the agency's purview, according to a three-judge panel.
The record shows that Covid-19 has continued to spread, kill and block the safe return of American workers to their jobs. OSHA must be able to respond to dangers as they evolve.
The department says that employees who haven't been fully vaccined won't have to do so until February 9.
The Labor Department said that there will be no citations for noncompliance before February 9 if an employer is doing their part to come into compliance.
Private businesses that employed at least 100 people were required to have their employees wear face coverings by a December 6 deadline in order to comply with the Biden mandate.
TheOSHA, the workplace-safety agency overseeing the implementation of the rule, applauded the court's decision.
The Fifth Circuit's stay of the Vaccination and Testing Emergency Temporary Standard was dissolved by the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. "OSHA can once again implement this vital workplace health standard, which will protect the health of workers by reducing the spread of the unprecedented virus in the workplace."
The vaccine rule has been challenged by several GOP-led states who argue that it exceeds the authority of OSHA.
The claim that COVID-19 is not a grave danger in the workplace is equally unavailing. OSHA regulates both inside and outside the workplace. The nature of the workplace presents a heightened risk of exposure, which OSHA demonstrated with substantial evidence.
David Michaels, an assistant secretary of labor for OSHA during the Obama administration and an epidemiologist at the George Washington University School of Public Health, told USA Today that the spread of the omicron variant should push employers to "ramp up workplace protections as quickly as possible."
A group of businesses filed an appeal with the US Supreme Court to block the vaccine requirement.
It will impose compliance costs on businesses. Businesses will either have to pay for testing for millions of employees who don't want to bevaccinated, or they will have to raise prices at a time of record inflation.
More than 806,000 people have died of the coronaviruses in the US as of December 17th, according to the University.
