vaccination

Republican governors, lawmakers and attorneys general are forming a wall of opposition to President Joe Biden's plan to require vaccinations or COVID-19 testing at all private employers of 100 workers or more. They have adopted laws to exempt employers in their state, filed lawsuits and in some cases are ensuring that workers who are fired for refusing a vaccine will have access to unemployment insurance. They question the constitutionality of the federal regulation, saying the federal workplace safety agency does not have the power to impose vaccine mandates. The Biden administration says it does.

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster says he plans to issue an executive order keeping his cabinet agencies from enforcing a federal mandate requiring companies with more than 100 employees to either have their workers vaccinated or tested for COVID-19 weekly. The Republican governor says he thinks the federal order is not legal and he is stunned by the overreach of Democratic President Joe Biden's administration. The federal rules require all companies with more than 100 employees to either have their workers vaccinated or tested for COVID-19 weekly and wear masks.

The Biden administration is threatening to revoke the authority for three Republican-controlled states to handle their own workplace safety regulations because they have refused to adopt rules to protect health care workers from COVID-19. The threats were sent to Arizona, South Carolina and Utah as the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration prepares to adopt much more far-reaching vaccination and testing rules affecting 80 million Americans.

The operator of a sprawling federal nuclear reservation in South Carolina says the vast majority of its 5,500 workers are now fully vaccinated against COVID-19 after the company mandated the shots. But nearly 80 Savannah River Site employees who have refused to get inoculated sued Savannah River Nuclear Solutions over the requirement in South Carolina state court Thursday. Employees who don't get inoculated against the highly contagious virus face firing. The federal contractor says 95% of its workers have gotten the shots ahead of a fall deadline so far. Gov. Henry McMaster says he won't issue an executive order to stop South Carolina businesses from requiring vaccines.

The Boeing Co. has told employees they must be vaccinated against COVID-19 or possibly be fired. The Seattle Times reports the deadline for workers at the aerospace giant is Dec. 8. Employees can request exemptions "due to a disability or sincerely held religious belief." The policy will apply to roughly 125,000 US-based employees company-wide. On Monday, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued an executive order barring private companies or any other entity from requiring vaccines. Boeing has more than 5,000 employees in Texas. It has about 32,000 more at facilities in Alabama, Arizona, Missouri, Oklahoma and South Carolina.

Pediatricians are frustrated by what one outspoken Columbia doctor calls a tendency to 'compartmentalize' COVID-19 deaths in children. Meanwhile, a Greenville mom's small children were part of a vaccine trial that could soon lead to shots for children as young as 5. (And, by the way, Mom's really frustrated too.)

In every age group, the number of men vaccinated against COVID-19 lags far behind the number of women.

Republicans in the South Carolina House plan to meet as soon as they can to figure out how to fight back against President Joe Biden's order that all larger businesses require their employees be vaccinated against COVID-19. House Speaker Jay Lucas sent a letter to his Republican colleagues telling them it goes against every notion of privacy. But Lucas says House Republicans need to respond in a way that is legal since they are out of session. Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey says he thinks Biden's order will be overturned before lawmakers could return. South Carolina is in the bottom 10 in the U.S. in percentage of fully vaccinated people at just under 45%.

More public colleges and universities in South Carolina are requiring people wear masks on campus to prevent the spread of COVID-19 after the state's Supreme Court ruled the schools can legally do so.

South Carolina State University is delaying fall classes by three days to give students more time to get vaccinated as COVID cases spike across the state. The Orangeburg-based historically black college and university says classes scheduled to start Wednesday for the fall semester will be pushed to next Monday.