Buffalo, NY (WBEN) President Biden's executive order mandating federal workers in the executive branch and contractors to get vaccinated is drawing sharply mixed reaction among Americans.
While the population digests the sweeping mandates that impacts nearly 100 million citizens, WBEN reached out to local leading legal and medical authorities and found a doctor giving the mandate a rave review, and an attorney looking toward likely upcoming legal challenges.
At the University of Buffalo's Jacobs School of Medicine, Dr. Thomas Russo says the mandate requiring employers with more than 100 workers to be vaccinated or test for the virus weekly, and vaccination for all employees of the executive branch and contractors who do business with the federal government makes sense.
"Vaccinating as many people as soon as possible will save lives and it's the fastest way out of this pandemic," says Russo. "It's logical vaccine mandates is a critically important means to get it done and it appears to be the next step."
Russo says the mandate is another way to help get people vaccinated. He adds it's not the first federal mandate, as the VA required frontline workers to get vaccinated. "I think this is just adding ways to an ongoing plan to get as many people vaccinated as possible," says Russo.
The mandate appears to be legal, says attorney Paul Cambria. "The courts have supported mandatory vaccinations," says Cambria. Will there be a challenge because it's the federal government this time? He expects so. "Maybe the ACLU could. We really need guidance on the federal level," notes Cambria.
Cambria does not believe federal contractors will give up contracts because of the mandate. "If you have a contract with the federal government, it's a massive one. It's a business decision for the most part. Whether your employees will object and you don't have a work force, that's another story," says Cambria.
Cambria says there's a different twist with the federal government as opposed to private businesses. "Obviously the Constitution applies to government entities unless there's a case of discrimination," explains Cambria.
Most of the spread — and the vast majority of severe illness and death — is occurring among those not yet fully vaccinated. So-called breakthrough infections in vaccinated people occur, but tend to be far less dangerous.
