Alabama Governor Kay Ivey spoke out on Thursday, strongly criticizing President Joe Biden’s just released list of requirements forcing as many as 100 million Americans to be vaccinated against COVID – saying the president “missed the mark,” adding “his outrageous, overreaching mandates will no doubt be challenged in the courts.”

Ivey stated “I’ve made it abundantly clear that I support the science, and encourage folks to take the vaccine – however, I’m absolutely against a government mandate on the vaccine, which is why I signed the vaccine passport ban into law here in Alabama.  This is not the role of the government.”  She closed with “I continue encouraging any Alabamian who can, to get the covid-19 vaccine.  We have a safe, and effective, tool at our fingertips, so, let’s roll up our sleeves and get this thing beat.”

Thursday evening, Biden announced the requirements impacting federal employees, those that do business with the federal government, and businesses that employ 100 people or more – in an attempt to cut down on the rising number of COVID cases; the Associated Press reports that as many as 100 million Americans are impacted by the president’s policy announcements.

All employers with more than 100 workers will require them to be vaccinated or test each employee for the virus weekly, affecting about 80 million Americans.

Also, the roughly 17 million workers at health facilities that receive federal Medicare or Medicaid will have to be fully vaccinated.

Biden is also signing an Executive Order to require vaccination for employees of the executive branch and contractors who do business with the federal government with no option to test out.  That covers several million more workers.

Meanwhile, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp responded with a Tweet, during President Biden’s press conference – stating he would pursue legal avenues to fight that federal mandate.

Kemp described the White House move as being “blatantly unlawful overreach.”

(AL.COM/www.al.com)