BUSINESS COULD STILL FOOT COVID TESTING BILL FOR UNVACCINATED WORKERS — President Joe Biden wants unvaccinated workers to pay for office Covid-19 testing come early January — but business groups and labor-law experts argue companies will likely end up covering those costs for workers claiming religious or disability exemptions to Covid-19 vaccines. And on Friday, a federal appeals court temporarily suspended the policy, which was set to take effect in January, in response to a suit spearheaded by Texas’ Republican attorney general. “I think employers will be hard-pressed to push the cost on to employees who fall properly within those exemptions,” Carleton Schaefer, chair of Loeb and Loeb’s employment and labor practice, said of the Covid-19 testing costs. The Biden policy will require businesses with more than 100 employees to verify their staff is vaccinated against Covid-19 or submit to weekly tests. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration estimates that more than 75 million workers — nearly 90 percent of those covered by the regulation — will be vaccinated by the time the requirement is set to take effect. That would leave roughly 9 million holdouts, most of whom the government predicts will work in person rather than remotely. The vaccine mandate “is a federal overstep that will only create more confusion and legal challenges,” Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), the ranking member of the Senate health committee, said in a statement to POLITICO. “The move proves the administration continues to be out of touch with working Americans and risks exacerbating labor and testing shortages. Heavy-handed mandates will not solve this problem. Instead, the administration should foster cooperation with businesses and workers, with clear communication, transparency, and trust.” In the meantime, there are also questions about whether the plan will squeeze the nation’s testing system. The federal government has scrambled in recent months to shore up the U.S. supply of rapid tests, including at-home tests. But the vaccine mandate does not allow at-home tests to be used to satisfy the weekly testing requirement for unvaccinated workers unless employers or authorized telehealth proctors observe workers taking the tests. Trade associations for the laboratory and diagnostics industries say they are ready to meet any new demand for testing driven by the Biden mandate. That requirement appears to be an attempt to ensure that unvaccinated workers submit results from Covid-19 tests they themselves took, said Harvard University epidemiologist Michael Mina. But it is unclear if the OSHA regulation will be effective at preventing bad actors from mailing in fraudulent samples for lab-based testing. “It's going to be a burden on the testing system; we're going to run into test shortages,” said Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association. “It's going to be an administrative burden that will foster more people getting vaccinated just because of the hassle.” The Department of Justice says it will “vigorously defend” the rule in court: At least a dozen legal challenges have been filed in the 5th, 6th, 7th, 11th and D.C. Circuits, triggering a lottery over which circuit will ultimately hear the challenge. According to a DOJ court filing, the lottery to decide which court will hear the case is scheduled for Nov. 16. But experts predict the Supreme Court will eventually have to decide whether the policy is upheld and implemented. ICYMI: HOW TRUMP’S MODERNA VAX DEAL SHORTED THE WORLD — The messenger RNA vaccine manufacturer benefited handsomely from the U.S. government’s largesse in both money and research in its quest to quickly deliver a coronavirus vaccine. But Moderna, armed with a federal contract giving it full control over its technology, has largely rebuffed the Biden administration’s efforts to help vaccinate the rest of the world while it rakes in billions from wealthy countries eager for the shots, POLITICO’s Sarah Owermohle, Adam Cancryn and Erin Banco report. The company’s lack of cooperation despite soaring profits “has turned what began as a government success story into a prime target of lawmakers and global health advocates,” they write. And as disparities in vaccine access continue, the likelihood grows for more variants developing that could prolong the pandemic. MONTO: LIKE FLU, ‘LEARN TO LIVE’ WITH COVID — The chair of FDA’s vaccine advisory committee argues in a recent New England Journal of Medicine piece that the world should look to pandemic and seasonal flu infection patterns to understand our likely future with Covid-19. Waves of cases of both viruses can overwhelm health systems, Arnold Monto says, and readministration of vaccines is necessary for both as immunity wanes and, at least in the case of influenza, different strains evade protection offered by shots. “Given the parade of variants, their varying transmissibility and continuing concern about antigenic changes affecting vaccine protection, I believe it should now be clear that it is not possible to eliminate this virus from the population and that we should develop long-term plans for dealing with it after the unsupportable surges are fully controlled,” Monto writes. FDA CLEARS MORE J&J DOSES FOR USE — FDA green-lit the use Friday of two more Johnson & Johnson Covid vaccine batches made by Emergent BioSolutions at its troubled Baltimore facility. That brings the total number of batches cleared for use to 11, though the agency noted it’s not ready to designate the plant an authorized manufacturing facility under J&J’s EUA.
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