Biden administration asks court to lift temporary injunction against vaccination

The Biden administration will appeal a ruling this week by a federal judge in Georgia that bans the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for federal contractors, and it requests an immediate lifting of the temporary injunction.

It also asks U.S. District Judge R. Stan Baker to clarify if his order granting a temporary injunction extends to private companies ability require employees to be vaccinated, and if the injunction cancels employee safety guidelines recommendations for masks and social distancing.

Friday, the states filed notice that they will file motions in opposition to the federal government's latest files.

Tuesday, Baker granted Georgia and other states a preliminary injunction that temporarily halts enforcement of President Biden's executive order requiring all federal contractors to have their employees vaccinated.

The lawsuit seeking temporary and permanent injunctions was filed Oct. 29 in Augusta's federal courthouse by the states of Georgia, Alabama, Idaho, Kansas, South Carolina, Utah and West Virginia. It claims the enforcement of the mandate will cause great expense and effort and risk a substantial reduction in workforces if employees chose to quit rather than accept vaccination against COVID-19,

COVID-19 has killed nearly 800,000 Americans since the pandemic began in 2019.

Friday, on the heel's of Thursday notice that the administration will appeal Baker's order to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. The administration asks Baker to withdraw the preliminary injunction to give it time to get the case before the appellate court where it intends to seek an emergency motion to lift Baker's stay.