By Mark Meuser – November 8, 2021

Dear OSHA;

Let me get this straight. You say that this OSHA vaccine mandate is necessary because there is a gave danger to the unvaccinated workforce. You reference the fact that 723,205 people have died as a result of COVID as the reason why employers with over 100 employees must become the vaccination police.

You say that this cost on employers will be 149 million dollars (a number that I think you grossly underestimate since you say it will cost the average employer only $566 to implement this system).The problem is, that of the 723, 205 individuals who have died as a result of COVID, only 183,798 have been of working age. Furthermore, according to your own numbers, 95% of these have underlining health issues. As such, according to your own numbers, it appears that approximately 4,600 American workers have died this year as a sole result of COVID.

This number is actually in line with the deaths above excess. If you look at the average number of deaths in the United States and compare it with the number of people who have died as a result of COVID, you are going to find that the number of deaths above excess in the American workforce is less than 5,000.

As I read your explanation for why this vaccine mandate is necessary, nowhere are you able to show that these 5,000 workplace deaths would not have occurred if employers who have more than 100 employees spend 149 million dollars and become the vaccine police. Since you can’t show that this is a work place hazard, this really does not seem to be an issue you should be allowed to regulate.

It appears that the vast majority of deaths are not happening in the workplace and it appears that it is happening to those who have compromised immune systems. Maybe the solution is helping those with compromised immune systems. You would not make everyone at work wear hearing aids just because the elderly a few individuals of working age have hearing problems. So likewise, you should not be giving every American worker a vaccine just because the elderly and those with a compromised immune system might die because of COVID.

The solution you are trying to enforce does not seem to be narrowly tailored the actual problem.

Mark Meuser is running for US Senate. He’ll be on the ballot from year from today.