Macon Reporter

State Rep. Dan Caulkins (R-Decatur) agrees with the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling against the Biden Administration’s vaccine mandate on employers with over 100 employees.

“The Supreme Court decided that the Biden Administration's vaccine mandate is unconstitutional,” Caulkins said in a video posted to Facebook. “Strangely enough, the Pritzker Administration a couple of weeks ago, not wanting to wait for this decision to come, decided to issue their own vaccine mandates. Look, the pandemic does not erase the rights of the individuals under our constitution. Our response to the virus must be done within the context of the constitutional rights which are innate to every American citizen.”

CNN reports the high court’s decision effectively puts an end to an Occupational Safety and Health Administration order requiring that businesses with 100 or more employees ensure that each worker is fully vaccinated or tests for COVID-19 on at least a weekly basis.

The ruling leaves the question of if any COVID-19 vaccine or testing requirements will be required in the hands of companies and employees.

Caulkins thinks that’s as it should be.

“You know there's no compelling reason to force these interventions on more than 80 million workers across the country who would have been subject to Biden's vaccine mandate,” he said. “Now is the time for the courts in Illinois to finally do the job that the General Assembly refuses to do. Stop the abuse of power we see at the state level. It's time for our state courts to step up and rein in the state agencies and the political class that have been allowed to run unchecked over the rights of our citizens. Now is the time for the General Assembly to get back together and do their job."

The health care industry will remain under original vaccine requirements as it relates to health care workers in hospitals, nursing homes and other facilities that participate in Medicare and Medicaid programs. While government estimates peg that overall worker number at around 10.3 million, many of them will now have until March 15 to become fully vaccinated as opposed to an original Dec. 6 deadline.

According to WCIA, the Illinois Department of Labor officially adopted the Biden administration’s vaccine mandate, even as the conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court questioned the federal government’s legal authority to enforce such policy.

In addition, the city of Chicago and most of suburban Cook County recently implemented a requirement that customers at specific indoor facilities furnish proof of vaccination.

Soon after the Department of Labor's announcement, NBC reported Pritzker praised the move during a press conference as a case of leaders standing up to make “the tough calls” arguing that they are the type of decisions that could prevent a rapid surge in COVID cases and hospitalizations.