OSHA and Public Health in an Emergency and a Culture War

The approval of COVID-19 vaccinations for working age Americans in early 2021 offered a welcome release from oppressive non-vaccination safety measures. Group activities including normal employment operations became possible with a greatly reduced risk of serious illness and death. However, escape from the virus and non-vaccination measures was limited by widespread resistance to vaccination. OSHA became one of a handful of federal government offices that adopted rules to motivate more people to accept vaccination as the best way to protect themselves, protect their families, and escape the oppression of non-vaccination measures.

OSHA, which regulates private sector “occupational” health, issued an “emergency” rule that applied only to private sector employers with at least 100 employees. The rule did not “mandate” vaccinations. However, it strongly motivated employers to adopt their own vaccination requirements in order to avoid the alternative: burdensome non-vaccination requirements.