The Supreme Court delivered 2 decisions on vaccine rules for U.S. workers

搜索

复制

The Supreme¹ Court delivered 2 decisions on vaccine² rules for U.S. workers

Transcript³

One decision by the high court upholds a mandate⁴ for 10 million health care employees. The other decision blocks the rule meant for 84 million workers at companies.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Ten million health care workers across the U.S. legally have to abide⁵ by the Biden administration's vaccine mandate. The Supreme Court upheld that rule yesterday. At the same time, the court blocked the vaccine-or-test rule that had been set for 84 million workers at companies. NPR's Andrea Hsu is here with details. Andrea, what did the court have to say?

ANDREA HSU, BYLINE⁶: Well, on the vaccine-or-test rule, the vote was 6 to 3 to block it. The six conservative justices found that OSHA, the federal workplace safety agency, did not have the authority to issue something so sweeping⁷. They sided with the challengers, who had argued that COVID is not a danger specific to the workplace; it's all over society. And the court said OSHA can regulate occupational hazards but not public health more broadly without clear authorization⁸ from Congress. Now, the three liberal justices said the court's decision hinders the federal government's ability to deal with the very serious threat that the virus still poses to workers.

MARTIN: So how are companies themselves reacting to this?

HSU: Well, the National Federation⁹ of Independent Business called the decision welcome relief for companies who are still trying to dig out from under the pandemic. And I think there's some relief even among companies that didn't object to this rule. I was at MOM's Organic Market earlier this week. It's a small grocery chain headquartered in Maryland. And their chief culture officer, Jon Croft, knew a ruling was coming, but he wasn't focused on it because they've got so many other pressing issues right now with the supply chain, with workers sick with omicron.

JON CROFT: There's so much going on, and there's so many other things to do. We just don't have the bandwidth to be going down rabbit holes that we might not even have to go down.

HSU: Like figuring out how to get unvaccinated workers tested every week, and now he doesn't need to.

MARTIN: OK, so that's the case the Biden administration lost. Let's talk about the one that the administration succeeded in - the vaccine mandate for health care workers. Why was this one different?

HSU: Well, in that case, Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Kavanaugh, two conservatives, sided with the three liberals. They found that the government can impose conditions on health care employers who get funding through Medicare and Medicaid, and most of them do. And they pointed¹² out that vaccine requirements are actually pretty common in health care for things such as measles¹³ and hepatitis B.

MARTIN: So the challengers to this rule had argued that health care workers might quit over the vaccine mandate, and that could lead to, obviously, a staffing crisis. Is that likely to happen?

HSU: Well, not necessarily. First of all, health care workers do have some time before they have to be fully¹⁴ vaccinated¹⁰. And in hospitals that already had their own mandates¹⁵, most people have gotten the shots. Last night, I did check in with Ted¹¹ LeNeave. He's the CEO of Accura Health Care, which runs nursing homes in the Midwest. He had been really worried about a mass exodus¹⁶, but over the last few months, the vaccination¹⁷ rate among his employees has gone up from 60% to now just above 70%. And he thinks it's - will go up further now that the court has ruled. And yesterday he sent a blast to all his employees.

TED LENEAVE: Don't panic. Don't leave. You know, if you're not vaccinated, we will have conversations with you about the vaccine, the need for the vaccine, why it's important, why it is safe.

HSU: And he told them they will also discuss options for applying for religious or medical exemptions¹⁸. Now, LeNeave did say that unvaccinated workers do have to be tested multiple times a week and wear N95 masks on the job.

MARTIN: OK. NPR's labor¹⁹ correspondent Andrea Hsu. Andrea, thanks. We appreciate it.

HSU: You're welcome.

1 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

2 vaccine   

n.牛痘苗，疫苗；adj.牛痘的，疫苗的

参考例句：

• The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives.脊髓灰质炎疫苗挽救了数以百万计的生命。
• She takes a vaccine against influenza every fall.她每年秋季接种流感疫苗。

3 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

4 mandate   

n.托管地；命令，指示

参考例句：

• The President had a clear mandate to end the war.总统得到明确的授权结束那场战争。
• The General Election gave him no such mandate.大选并未授予他这种权力。

5 abide   

vi.遵守；坚持；vt.忍受

参考例句：

• You must abide by the results of your mistakes.你必须承担你的错误所造成的后果。
• If you join the club,you have to abide by its rules.如果你参加俱乐部，你就得遵守它的规章。

6 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

7 sweeping   

adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的

参考例句：

• The citizens voted for sweeping reforms.公民投票支持全面的改革。
• Can you hear the wind sweeping through the branches?你能听到风掠过树枝的声音吗？

8 authorization   

n.授权，委任状

参考例句：

• Anglers are required to obtain prior authorization from the park keeper.垂钓者必须事先得到公园管理者的许可。
• You cannot take a day off without authorization.未经批准你不得休假。

9 federation   

n.同盟，联邦，联合，联盟，联合会

参考例句：

• It is a federation of 10 regional unions.它是由十个地方工会结合成的联合会。
• Mr.Putin was inaugurated as the President of the Russian Federation.普京正式就任俄罗斯联邦总统。

10 vaccinated   

[医]已接种的，种痘的，接种过疫菌的

参考例句：

• I was vaccinated against tetanus. 我接种了破伤风疫苗。
• Were you vaccinated against smallpox as a child? 你小时候打过天花疫苗吗？

11 ted   

vt.翻晒，撒，撒开

参考例句：

• The invaders gut ted the village.侵略者把村中财物洗劫一空。
• She often teds the corn when it's sunny.天好的时候她就翻晒玉米。

12 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

13 measles   

n.麻疹，风疹，包虫病，痧子

参考例句：

• The doctor is quite definite about Tom having measles.医生十分肯定汤姆得了麻疹。
• The doctor told her to watch out for symptoms of measles.医生叫她注意麻疹出现的症状。

14 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

15 mandates   

托管（mandate的第三人称单数形式）

参考例句：

• Individual mandates would require all people to purchase health insurance. 个人托管要求所有人都要购买健康保险。
• While I agree with those benefits, I'm not a supporter of mandates. 我同意上述好处，我不是授权软件的支持者。

16 exodus   

v.大批离去，成群外出

参考例句：

• The medical system is facing collapse because of an exodus of doctors.由于医生大批离去，医疗系统面临崩溃。
• Man's great challenge at this moment is to prevent his exodus from this planet.人在当前所遇到的最大挑战，就是要防止人从这个星球上消失。

17 vaccination   

n.接种疫苗，种痘

参考例句：

• Vaccination is a preventive against smallpox.种痘是预防天花的方法。
• Doctors suggest getting a tetanus vaccination every ten years.医生建议每十年注射一次破伤风疫苗。

18 exemptions   

n.（义务等的）免除( exemption的名词复数 )；免（税）；（收入中的）免税额

参考例句：

• The exemptions for interpretive rules, policy statements, and procedural rules have just been discussed. 有关解释性规则、政策说明和程序规则的免责我们刚刚讨论过。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法
• A: The regulation outlines specific exemptions for some WPM. 答：该规定概述了某些木质包装材料的特定的例外情形。 来自互联网

19 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。