Dive Brief:

• Workforce vaccination is employers’ best defense against the pandemic, according to the National Association of Manufacturers — and the U.S. Supreme Court’s stay blocking the nationwide workforce vaccination mandate doesn’t change that fact, the business group said in a Jan. 13 statement.
• Manufacturers have "a profound commitment" to protect employees and communities, according to the organization, which describes itself as the largest manufacturing association in the U.S.
• "We call on all Americans to make the choice to get vaccinated, get boosted when eligible and wear the appropriate mask in public places — so that we can save lives, protect our economy and get through this latest wave of infection," NAM President and CEO Jay Timmons said in the statement.

Dive Insight:

While Timmons stopped short of calling for employers to mandate vaccination in his prepared statement, he went further in an interview with Yahoo Finance Live just minutes after the high court stayed the Biden administration’s mandate last week.

"[W]e've got to get people vaccinated," he said. "And so we're going to continue to encourage and follow the great lead of several of our companies who have already done that, like Cleveland-Cliffs or Tyson Food and others who have shown the way to getting their workforces vaccinated. Nephron Pharmaceuticals in South Carolina, they put a mandate in place several months ago, and they have 100% compliance now. So it can be done, and we can do this together."

The statements are notable coming from the business advocacy heavyweight. In contrast, for example, the National Federation of Independent Business served as the primary challenger to the Biden administration’s mandate. The push for vaccination may partially stem from the fact that manufacturing has been particularly hard-hit by the pandemic, especially when it comes to labor. NFIB, on the other hand, argued that the mandate would "further exacerbate the labor shortage for small businesses."

The call for workforce vaccination isn’t the first time NAM has departed from other industry groups. Last year, it came out early and vocally in opposition to the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, calling for then-Vice President Mike Pence to remove then-President Donald Trump from office before the building had been cleared and when many peer groups remained silent or took softer approaches.