Vaccine mandate news - Free rapid tests from Wednesday after Supreme Court blocks Biden Covid rule

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and controversial podcast host Joe Rogan are set to appear as guest speakers at a conspiracy theory-linked COVID-19 vaccine protest in Washington, D.C.

Mr Kennedy, son of former senator Bobby Kennedy and nephew of the former president John F. Kennedy, is slated to appear at the “Defeat the Mandates” rally in D.C. on January 23, Newsweek reports.

Mr Rogan, who is frequently criticized for promoting COVID-19 and vaccine misinformation on the hugely popular JRE podcast, is also listed as being among the speakers at the march, which concludes at the Lincoln Memorial.

The Defeat the Mandates demonstration aims to protest against “forcing vaccinations on Americans” and other COVID-related restrictions.

The 23 January protest is set to coincide with a “World Wide Rally for Freedom” rally in D.C. The “World Wide Rally for Freedom” is a coordinated international anti-vaccine protest movement with ties to conspiracy theory and QAnon groups.

The Supreme Court voted 6-3 along ideological lines to toss out Joe Biden’s mandate for businesses requiring those with more than 100 workers to institute vaccination or regular testing requirements.

A second 5-4 ruling in the court allowed the administration’s requirement for healthcare workers to be vaccinated to remain in place. Conservative justices John Roberts and Brett Kavanaugh sided with the liberal justices on that decision.

However, the first ruling is nevertheless a major blow to the plan the president announced last year.

In their majority opinion, the six justices wrote that although Covid-19 was indeed a hazard faced by many employees at their workplaces, it did not fall under the legal definition of an “occupational hazard” that OSHA, the US government agency which enforces labour standards, could regulate.

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Freedom Caucus member Representative Bob Good stood up in a closed-door GOP Conference meeting on Tuesday, telling colleagues they should refuse to patronize the 70-year-old Capitol Hill Club, sources told The Hill.

The club stated on its website that starting Saturday it will begin requiring that members and guests show their COVID-19 vaccination cards before they can enter the facilities.

Conservative House lawmakers are urging their colleagues to boycott a storied, private Republican club near the Capitol to protest an indoor vaccine mandate imposed by D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, which was set to be imposed on Friday.

“For some, there’s a mentality of ‘burn the house down,’” said one GOP member who was present at Tuesday’s meeting. “The majority of the conference was in the camp of you need to protect the club.”

Republican Senator Roger Marshall plans to introduce the “Fauci Act” after he clashed with the infectious disease expert at a Senate hearing earlier this week. 

The Kansas-native will be introducing the Financial Accountability for Uniquely Compensated Individuals (FAUCI) Act following his claim that Fauci’s records were not readily accessible to the public, a spokesperson for the Senator told The Hill.

The Act would require the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) website to provide the financial records of administration officials like Fauci and a list of those in the government whose financial records are not public.

The move comes after Dr Fauci was caught on a hot mic calling Marshall a “moron” for not knowing the Chief White House medical adviser’s financial records were already public.

“I don’t understand why you’re asking me that question,” Dr Fauci said at the hearing after being questioned by Marshall about the records. “My financial disclosure is public knowledge and has been so for the last 37 years or so.”

The Marine Corps granted two religious exemptions to the military’s Covid-19 vaccine mandate, making it the first — and so far only — branch to grant religious exceptions since the requirement went into effect in August.

As CNN first reported, the Marine Corps on Wednesday said it had received 3,350 requests for religious exemptions and had processed 3,212 of them. However, for the first time, they have now granted two of the requests.

Each of the services has received several thousand requests for religious exemptions to the military’s vaccine mandate. But until this week, none of those requests had been granted, although the services still have many requests to process and vet.

Pressed earlier this week on why the services had not granted any religious exemptions, Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said that each branch considers the requests “in good faith.”

The highly contagious Omicron variant is fueling an enormous coronavirus wave that is pushing hospitals close to their capacity limits in about two dozen states, according to data posted by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

At least 80 per cent of staffed hospital beds were occupied in 24 states on Thursday, including Georgia, Maryland and Massachusetts, data shows.

Furthermore, in 18 states of those states, at least 85 per cent of beds in adult intensive care units were full, with the biggest shortage of beds being in Alabama, Missouri, New Mexico, Rhode Island and Texas.

On Wednesday, Oregon Governor Kate Brown said she was sending an additional 700 members of the state’s National Guard to help hospitals deal with a rise in coronavirus patients. “Our hospitals are under extreme pressure,” she wrote on Twitter.

Dr Craig Spencer, a New York emergency room doctor, has explained which symptoms his Covid patients typically get, depending on which – and how many – vaccine shots they’ve received. Unsurprisingly, the unvaccinated patients fare the worst.

Nathan Place reports on what the doctor observed in the ER.

Joe Rogan has admitted he was made to “look dumb” by ABC broadcaster Josh Zepps during a debate about the effects of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine.

Rogan has come under fire for the past two years for inviting several vaccine sceptics onto his show, where he allows them to air unsubstantiated or disproven theories about Covid-19.

This week, an open letter signed by 270 scientists demanded that Spotify address the misinformation shared on Rogan’s show.

Roisin O’Connor reports.

Fox News host Jeanine Pirro is facing a furious backlash after calling the historic devastation of Covid-19 into question.

The comment came during Wednesday’s episode of Fox News’ The Five, just after co-host Geraldo Rivera warned against downplaying the pandemic’s impact.

Nathan Place reports.

Spoiler alert: Before President Joe Biden announced plans to pay for the tests, the comparison was not favourable.

Alex Woodward has the details.