EXPLAINER: What vaccine mandate means for firms and workers

By TOM KRISHER and PAUL WISEMAN
AP Business Writers

The sweeping Biden administration’s new COVID-19 mandate will apply to 84 million workers at mid-size and large companies. President Joe Biden has described the new rules as urgently needed to get more Americans inoculated. Though confirmed viral cases and deaths have fallen sharply since the start of the year, they remain dangerously high, especially in some areas and industries. Average case levels have leveled off at about 70,000 new infections a day and confirmed viral deaths at more than 1,200. Yet several states with Republican governors have vowed to challenge the Occupational Health and Safety Administration regulations in court, calling them an unconstitutional power grab by the federal government.