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© Matthew Lloyd/Bloomberg NewsBoeing said it is suspending a requirement for its U.S.-based employees to get vaccinated.
Boeing is dropping a policy requiring all U.S.-based employees to be vaccinated, citing a federal district court ruling this month that blocked a key Biden administration immunization mandate for federal contractors and subcontractors.

The aerospace giant's announcement Friday followed other major companies such as Amtrak and General Electric that suspended their vaccine mandates as a result of the ongoing legal battles that pit conservative-led states against the federal government.

On Dec. 7, a federal judge in Georgia sided with seven states — Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, South Carolina, Utah and West Virginia — and several companies in issuing a nationwide stay of President Biden's vaccine mandate for companies with government contracts. After this setback, the White House said the Justice Department would continue pushing for the mandate, which was originally to take effect early next month.

In an interview with the Seattle Times on Friday after the announcement, Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO Stan Deal said he still wants "to encourage every one of our workforce to get vaccinated." He pointed to the important role vaccines play in allowing the global air travel industry to recover from the pandemic.

About 92 percent of Boeing's U.S.-based employees are fully vaccinated or have received exemptions on medical or religious grounds, according to the Associated Press, which cited a company statement.

This week, Amtrak also announced that it was dropping required vaccinations in light of the federal court ruling in Georgia. Unvaccinated employees who do not qualify for an exemption — which the company estimated to be fewer than 500 people — will be allowed to continue working as long as they undergo routine coronavirus testing, the company's CEO Bill Flynn said in a statement.

Many of the Biden administration's key policies aimed at boosting vaccination rates and clamping down on coronavirus transmission are tied up in the courts, putting companies and workers in the middle of the legal sparring.

In the latest development on the challenges to federal vaccine mandates, a U.S. appeals court in Ohio on Friday reinstated a federal mandate for businesses employing more than 100 workers — a rule that is separate from the mandates that apply to federal contractors or health-care facilities funded by Medicaid or Medicate.

But that reversal is likely to be taken to the U.S. Supreme Court after Utah Attorney General Sean D. Reyes (R) moved to seek "immediate, emergency" relief from the high court, along with "several dozen states," a statement from his office read.