On Friday, a federal court refused to revoke the Biden administration’s vaccine authorization for companies with 100 or more workers.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans last Saturday approved the Federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s requirements for these workers to be vaccinated before January 4th or for masks and weekly tests.

Lawyers from the Department of Justice and the Department of Labor submitted a response on Monday, stating that preventing the authorization from taking effect will only extend the COVID-19 pandemic and “will cause dozens or even hundreds of lives to be lost every day.”

The appeals court rejected this argument on Friday. Judge Kurt D. Engelhardt wrote that the suspension was “fully in the public interest”.

Engelhardt wrote: “From economic uncertainty to workplace conflicts, in recent months, the specter of commission alone has caused unspeakable economic turmoil.”

After OSHA issued the rule on November 4, at least 27 states have challenged at least six federal appeals courts. The submitted challenges should be randomly selected for listening on November 16.

Government lawyers stated that there is no reason to shelve the vaccine mission when the court where the case will eventually settle is still undecided.