Tom Hals

(Reuters) – In an apparent sign of opposition to the Biden administration’s sweeping COVID-19 vaccination mandate, common Americans use a well-known method to meet with officials in order to subvert the shots required for work.

U.S. President Joe Biden declared in September a nationwide mandate to administer a vaccine or test for any business that has at least 100 employees. It will be administered as a rule of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

While the Biden Administration is finalizing this rule, critics use an obscure Washington lobbying procedure to meet with policy analysts in Washington to express frustrations and query their decisions, as well as to present evidence regarding the risks of COVID-19 vaccinations.

These meetings are usually used by highly connected groups who want to gain an advantage for their companies or unions. There are many things that can be normalized about the vaccine mandate. It could even be released as early as next week.

According to OIRA (Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs), 36 of the 129 half-hour teleconferences on the vaccine rule were set up with individual participants.

Other participants were from businesses like United Parcel Service Inc. (NYSE:) Walt Disney (NYSE.) Trade groups have called for delay in the rule, or demanded that employees pay for testing.

Comparatively, just three OIRA meetings were held in June to discuss a COVID-19 similar rule. All 26 OIRA meetings were held in 2016, and were attended only by individuals.

The Biden Administration declined to comment.

Individuals cannot undermine or significantly alter the mandate for vaccines, even though they are trying to block it.

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Republican governors, such as Ron DeSantis in Florida, have criticised the mandate. New York City leaders of police and firefighters unions claim that over a third could lose their jobs if the COVID-19 mandate is enforced.

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Stuart Shapiro is a Rutgers University professor who said that meeting requests from individuals are not common during rule-making.

Shapiro, an ex-staff member of OIRA said that “it’s generally in the province Washington lobbyists.”

Clifford Knopik was one person that met with Biden representatives. He is a Washington data analyst who discovered about the process through social media.

“I didn’t actually think they would give me a slot,” said Knopik, who said he discussed what he described as unreliable COVID-19 health data from Washington.

Representatives of trade groups said that they were taken aback by the number of people who came to their meetings.

Eric Conn said, “I have never seen anything similar,” when he met with Biden officials for the Employers COVID-19 Prevention Coalition.

He suggested that he felt the meeting with individuals could be decreasing the time senior policy analyst spends with industry and advocacy organizations. He said that it appeared to have affected the quality of stakeholder feedback.