The White House said on Wednesday the U.S. Department of Justice "will vigorously defend" the government's authority to promote its vaccine requirement in federal contracting after courts blocked the Biden administration from enforcing two vaccine mandates.
U.S. lawmakers' efforts to keep the U.S. government operating hit a stumbling block on Wednesday as a group of hard-line Republicans threatened to try to block any plan that allowed COVID-19 vaccine mandates to proceed.
Facebook owner Meta Platforms Inc said on Wednesday it had removed accounts used by an influence operation originating in China that promoted claims of a fake "Swiss biologist" saying the United States was interfering in the search for COVID-19's origins.
A federal judge on Monday blocked in 10 states a Biden administration vaccine requirement, finding the agency that issued the rule mandating healthcare workers get vaccinated against the coronavirus likely exceeded its authority.
U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday called on nations meeting at the World Trade Organization next week to agree to waive intellectual property protections for COVID-19 vaccines in the wake of the discovery of a new coronavirus variant in South Africa.