As of January 19th, 2022, following the Supreme Court decision blocking the mandate, the Biden administration has officially dropped the vaccine mandate for private employers with 100 or more employees.

It’s uncertain whether private companies will continue to pursue the vaccination mandate but Starbucks, along with General Electric, have suspended their vaccine mandates and testing requirements. It’s no longer required for Starbucks employees to choose between the vaccination and their job.

The original mandate that the Biden administration released would have required more than 84 million workers to get vaccinated, or wear a mask and pay weekly for testing. Companies would have had to pay employees sick time for getting the vaccine or any days missed due to side effects from the vaccine. Before the ruling was finalized, Starbucks had decided on January 3rd that the vaccination would be required by February 9th or the employees would face a weekly COVID test, abiding by the Biden administration’s rules. At the time, Starbucks Chief Operating Officer John Culver said it was the responsibility of Starbucks’ leadership “to do whatever we can to help keep you safe and create the safest work environment possible.” The mandate was previously written under emergency authority for the Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

Although this mandate was blocked by the Supreme Court on January 13th, 2022, the Supreme Court upheld Biden’s mandate requiring vaccines for health care workers.