In an Oct. 20, 2021 column published by Bloomberg Law, McGuireWoods partners Samuel Tarry and Davis Walsh assert that governments should provide a liability shield for businesses that follow public health guidelines and implement COVID-19 vaccine mandates for their workers.
“Recent court decisions highlight the ongoing risks of COVID-19 claims from workers, consumers and even individuals who never set foot in the work environment,” the authors wrote. “Federal mandates on the private sector should bar these lawsuits against employers and businesses that implement vaccine mandates or active antibody testing for their employees.”
Tarry and Walsh are partners in the firm’s Products, Environmental & Mass Torts Litigation Department and editors of “Infectious Disease Litigation: Science, Law, and Procedure” (American Bar Association, February 2021).
In their Bloomberg Law article, they maintain that getting more individuals vaccinated “furthers public health, curbs the pandemic, and helps get Americans back to work safely.”
“Barring lawsuits against businesses that enforce reasonable vaccine mandates would further the public health goal of encouraging more vaccinations,” they wrote. “And it would eliminate the risk of lawsuits those businesses don’t need or deserve.