Senate Republicans joined Democrats to abolish President Joe Biden's vaccine mandate for enterprises with more than a hundred employees.

On Wednesday, 52 Senate members voted in favor of removing the requirement, while 48 voted against it. All 50 Republican senators voted, as did two Democrats, West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, and Montana Senator Jon Tester.

The remaining Democrats in the Senate voted to preserve Biden's mandate, and they were backed by the Senate's only two independents, Vermont's Bernie Sanders and Maine's Angus King.

While the vote demonstrated widespread resistance to Biden's mandate – which threatens fines for businesses with 100 or more employees that fail to vaccinate their employees against Covid-19 completely – it is unlikely to result in a policy reversal any time soon.

To pass Congress, a repeal would also need a majority in the House of Representatives and would have to avoid Biden's veto, which is highly improbable.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer — a Democrat – blasted the vote, accusing Republicans of being anti-vaxxers and equating them to those who believed "the sun revolved around the Earth" and "the Earth was flat."

Republicans defended their stance, arguing that such vaccine restrictions are unlawful and would jeopardize job security even further during a pandemic that would decimate the economy.