London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 16, 2025

Surgeon general defends legality of Biden vaccine mandate: 'An appropriate action'

Surgeon general defends legality of Biden vaccine mandate: 'An appropriate action'

U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy has defended the Biden administration’s new COVID-19 vaccine mandate as legal questions and challenges mount.
President Biden last week announced a mandate that required any company with at least 100 employees to mandate its workforce. The mandate met immediate opposition from Republican governors, while others have argued that the mandate might not stand due to the administration’s mask mandate and insistence that other measures are effective deterrents to the spread of the virus.

However, Murthy insists the vaccine mandate is legally sound.

"Certainly this wouldn't have been put forward if the president or the administration didn't believe that it was an appropriate legal measure to take, and I believe it is so based on the authority that Congress has actually given under the OSHA Act," Murthy argued on ABC’s "This Week."

"This is an appropriate action, we believe, and it certainly, from a public health perspective, most importantly, will help keep workers safe and that will ultimately help our economy as well," he said.

Murthy tried to stress that the mandate is focused "on areas where the federal government has legal authority to act."

"This is the next step … in a series of steps that have to be taken to help protect our country from COVID-19 and help us get through this pandemic," Murthy said.

Republican governors made clear that they plan to oppose the mandate with legal action if necessary after claiming the mandate was "unconstitutional."

"The American Dream has turned into a nightmare under President Biden and the radical Democrats," Republican South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster said on Twitter in response to the mandate. "They have declared war against capitalism, thumbed their noses at the Constitution, and empowered our enemies abroad."

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott labeled the mandate "an assault to private businesses."

"I issued an Executive Order protecting Texans’ right to choose whether they get the COVID vaccine & added it to the special session agenda," Abbott tweeted. "Texas is already working to halt this power grab."

The mandate may face a legal challenge that the administration’s strong stance that masks are an effective measure to prevent the spread of the virus could undermine the necessity of a vaccine mandate.

"The constitutional issues to me might not be as difficult as the simple statute that requires us to show a ‘grave danger’ and that the emergency standard is necessary," said Julie O'Keefe, an OSHA practitioner who counsels companies in willful, serious and repeat citations and criminal investigations.

In fact," O'Keefe continued, "some of the statements we've heard from the administration is that masks work. Well, if masks work, is a vaccine and testing really necessary?" She added, "If social distancing works, if remote working works…then is testing and vaccination really necessary?"
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Australia’s Wedgetail Spies Aid NATO Response as Russian MiGs Breach Estonian Airspace
McGowan Urges Chalmers to Cut Spending Over Tax Hike to Close $20 Billion Budget Gap
Victoria Orders Review of Transgender Prison Placement Amid Safety Concerns for Female Inmates
U.S. Treasury Mobilises New $20 Billion Debt Facility to Stabilise Argentina
French Business Leaders Decry Budget as Macron’s Pro-Enterprise Promise Undermined
Trump Claims Modi Pledged India Would End Russian Oil Imports Amid U.S. Tariff Pressure
Surging AI Startup Valuations Fuel Bubble Concerns Among Top Investors
Australian Punter Archie Wilson Tears Up During Nebraska Press Conference, Sparking Conversation on Male Vulnerability
Australia Confirms U.S. Access to Upgraded Submarine Shipyard Under AUKUS Deal
“Firepower” Promised for Ukraine as NATO Ministers Meet — But U.S. Tomahawks Remain Undecided
Brands Confront New Dilemma as Extremists Adopt Fashion Labels
The Sydney Sweeney and Jeans Storm: “The Outcome Surpassed Our Wildest Dreams”
Erika Kirk Delivers Moving Tribute at White House as Trump Awards Charlie Presidential Medal of Freedom
British Food Influencer ‘Big John’ Detained in Australia After Visa Dispute
ScamBodia: The Chinese Fraud Empire Shielded by Cambodia’s Ruling Elite
French PM Suspends Macron’s Pension Reform Until After 2027 in Bid to Stabilize Government
Orange, Bouygues and Free Make €17 Billion Bid for Drahi’s Altice France Telecom Assets
Dutch Government Seizes Chipmaker After U.S. Presses for Removal of Chinese CEO
Bessent Accuses China of Dragging Down Global Economy Amid New Trade Curbs
U.S. Revokes Visas of Foreign Nationals Who ‘Celebrated’ Charlie Kirk’s Assassination
AI and Cybersecurity at Forefront as GITEX Global 2025 Kicks Off in Dubai
DJI Loses Appeal to Remove Pentagon’s ‘Chinese Military Company’ Label
EU Deploys New Biometric Entry/Exit System: What Non-EU Travelers Must Know
Australian Prime Minister’s Private Number Exposed Through AI Contact Scraper
Ex-Microsoft Engineer Confirms Famous Windows XP Key Was Leaked Corporate License, Not a Hack
China’s lesson for the US: it takes more than chips to win the AI race
Australia Faces Demographic Risk as Fertility Falls to Record Low
California County Reinstates Mask Mandate in Health Facilities as Respiratory Illness Risk Rises
Israel and Hamas Agree to First Phase of Trump-Brokered Gaza Truce, Hostages to Be Freed
French Political Turmoil Elevates Marine Le Pen as Rassemblement National Poised for Power
China Unveils Sweeping Rare Earth Export Controls to Shield ‘National Security’
The Davos Set in Decline: Why the World Economic Forum’s Power Must Be Challenged
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
×