Nine days after informing hundreds of faculty and staff that vaccinations against the Covid-19 pandemic would be required of them if they wanted to keep their jobs, the University of South Carolina has suspended its proposed mandate.
According to an email from the school, the suspension comes on the heels of an order issued on Tuesday by U.S. district court R. Stan Baker of southern Georgia which bars the federal government from “enforcing the vaccine mandate for federal contractors and subcontractors in all covered contracts in any state or territory.”
The contractor/ subcontractor ban is one of three mandates imposed by the administration of U.S. president Joe Biden in response to Covid-19 – which originated in the fall of 2019 in Wuhan, China. The others applied to businesses with more than 100 employees and health care workers.
All three orders have been blocked by the courts, however.
“Today, a federal court in Georgia issued a preliminary injunction preventing the federal government nationwide from enforcing (Biden)’s vaccine mandate for federal contractors,” the email from the university noted. “Therefore, the university is suspending the COVID-19 vaccine requirement for our employees who work on or in connection with a federal contract.”
“The University of South Carolina is committed to complying with all federal requirements and we will provide additional updates as needed,” the statement concluded.
South Carolina’s suspended mandate would have required employees who “chose” to receive the vaccine developed by Moderna to receive their first dose no later than December 7, 2021 and their second dose no later than January 4, 2022. Those who “chose” to receive the vaccine developed by Pfizer would have been required to receive their first dose no later than December 14, 2021 and their second dose no later than January 4.
“Once you receive your final dose, you must upload an image of your completed vaccine card into MyHealthSpace no later than January 4, 2022,” the school’s mandate stipulated.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …
(Via: FITSNews)
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and seven children. And yes, he has LOTS of hats (including that Chicago Blackhawks’ lid pictured above).
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