Senate Rejects Vaccine Mandate for Health Workers, House unlikely to approve

WASHINGTON — The Senate voted on Wednesday to roll back President Biden’s vaccine mandate for health care workers at federally funded facilities, in a symbolic move orchestrated by Republicans who are pushing to weaponize pandemic precautions against Democrats in this year’s midterm congressional elections.

In a vote forced by Republicans, the measure passed 49 to 44 along party lines, after six Democratic absences left the majority party short of the votes needed to defeat it. The measure is all but certain to die in the Democratic-controlled House; even if it cleared that chamber, the White House said on Wednesday that Mr. Biden would veto it.

But Republicans relished the opportunity to hit back against vaccine mandates across the country, seeking to advance their argument that the Biden administration and Democrats have overstepped in their efforts to control the spread of the coronavirus.

The Supreme Court, which blocked the Biden administration from enforcing a much broader vaccine-or-testing mandate for large employers, said in January that the mandate for health workers could remain in place. It applies to hospital workers and those at other health care facilities that receive funding through Medicare and Medicaid.

Vaccines have been proven safe and effective in stemming the spread of the coronavirus, and several medical experts said the mandates had been successful in persuading more people to get vaccinated.

But opponents of the mandate for health workers have cited concerns about staffing shortages at hospitals, as well as the fear of penalizing workers who have been on the front lines battling the spread of the virus.

“This vaccine mandate is not about public health or science,” Senator Roger Marshall, a Kansas Republican who is a physician, said in a speech on the Senate floor, a stethoscope draped around his neck. “The Biden administration’s mandate is about fulfilling their desire to control every aspect of our lives. And it’s a slap in the face to the hard-working men and women who never took a day off in the frontline fight of the Covid-19 battle.”

...