Washington Not Planning On Stricter Vaccine Mandates: Inslee

OLYMPIA, WA — Washington is not planning on tacking any new requirements or restrictions onto President Joe Biden's OSHA regulations requiring employees at large businesses to either vaccinate against COVID-19 or take weekly COVID tests.

At a news conference Thursday, Gov. Jay Inslee said that Biden's order — which, if it passes judicial review, will apply to all employees at businesses with 100 or more workers — is a step in "the right direction" but not one that Washington plans on embellishing any time soon.

"At this time, our intention is to retain OSHA's 100 employee threshold and also the option for testing out in lieu of vaccination," Inslee said. "That's the decision we made at this time, except for changes are necessary to align with our state law."

Previous Washington mandates required health care workers, state employees, and school staff to be vaccinated against COVID-19 by mid-October, or obtain a religious or medical exemption.

Biden's mandate, first unveiled on Nov. 4, is expected to require Washington employers with 100 or more employees to develop a mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy or give employees a choice between getting vaccinated or getting tested regularly and wearing a face mask. The emergency temporary standard from OSHA affects 84 million private sector employees. At the time of the standard's unveiling, OSHA estimated that over 26 million of those workers were unvaccinated, and that the change would result in about 72 percent of those workers — or 18.27 million people — getting the vaccine.

Right now, as Washington is finally starting to make some progress against the most recent wave of COVID-19 infections, the governor says any extra vaccine requirements are unnecessary— but didn't rule out the possibility for further mandates entirely.

"Obviously, we are watching the trajectory of this virus," Inslee said. "We could have to take more aggressive action if necessary, but right now that's the policy we have adopted."

While Washington has elected to accept Biden's vaccine mandate for businesses, many others have not. Officials in 27 Republican-led states have launched challenges against the mandate, the Associated Press reported, which are now being considered by the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals. Though that panel is controlled by judges appointed by Republicans, Inslee expressed optimism Thursday that Biden's order would ultimately pull through.

"I know this has caused a little consternation, for folks to know exactly what the near future is," Inslee said. "But I hope that we will have judicial review and a decision in the near future. We'll be watching those decisions closely."