Law on Vaccine Mandates Sparks Doubts for Response to Next Virus

As safeguards against Covid-19 continue to wane, employers and governments are left with only a partially developed legal landscape on workplace vaccine requirements to guide them when the next pandemic hits.

The Biden administration let the Covid public health emergency expire Thursday and has backed off most of its vaccine mandates, including those for federal workers and contractors. The federal government’s power to institute those mandates remains in doubt, with courts at some point blocking its different work-related shot requirements, legal scholars said.

While courts have given much more leeway to state and local governments and private employers, lingering legal ...