The White House is thumbing its nose at a federal court’s decision and has asked businesses to proceed with enforcing vaccine mandates on their employees.

White House Deputy Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre spoke to reporters on Monday when she was asked about the court’s decision and what businesses should do as the case plays out.

“To a business owner that sees the headlines that, you know, the rule has been stayed now, just, you know, will — should they prepare their employees now to get vaccinated, or should they wait while this law is — plays out?” the reporter said.

“No, that’s a great question.  I appreciate the question.  We think we — people should not wait.  It’s — we say: Do not wait to take actions that will keep your workplace safe.  It is important and critical to do, and waiting to get more people vaccinated will lead to more outbreaks and sickness,” the press secretary said.

“So, this is about keeping people in a workplace safe.  And so — and what we’re seeing is more businesses and school closures and most lost jobs in — keep us — keep us stuck in a pandemic that we’re trying to end.  Like we do not want that to happen.  We’re trying to get past this pandemic, and we know the way to do that is to get people vaccinated.

“So, people should not wait.  They should continue to go — move forward and make sure that they’re getting their workplace vaccinated,” she said.

This flies in the face of what a federal court ruled last week as it halted the Biden administration’s vaccine mandate.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit made the decision on Saturday pending further litigation, Bloomberg Law reported.

The order comes a day after the Occupational Safety and Health Administration officially published its vaccinate-or-test regulation, which was met by a flurry of lawsuits from Republican state attorneys general, companies, and other organizations seeking to block it. The emergency temporary standard is supposed to last just six months, heightening the significance of any delay before the rule gets full judicial review.

The three-judge Fifth Circuit panel that halted the regulation is composed of Judges Kyle Duncan and Kurt Engelhardt, who were both appointed by the Trump administration, and Judge Edith Jones, a Reagan administration appointee.

A group of companies led by BST Holdings sought the stay in the Fifth Circuit, where they filed suit on Friday seeking to have the measure voided. Challengers have similarly filed motions asking for the rule to be paused in other circuit courts.

With multiple lawsuits against the OSHA regulation filed in several circuit courts, federal rules for mulit-circuit litigation call for the cases to be consolidated and heard by one court that’s initially chosen by a lottery.

“Before the court is the petitioners’ emergency motion to stay enforcement of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s Nov. 5 2021 Emergency Temporary Standard (the “Mandate”), pending expedited judicial review,” the court said.

“Because the petitions give cause to believe there are grave statutory and constitutional issues with the Mandate, the Mandate is hereby STAYED pending further action by this court,” it said.

The stay can be lifted by another court who takes the case, but the Fifth Circuit gave the Biden administration until Monday to respond to the plaintiff’s request for a permanent injunction.

“The Government shall respond to the petitioners’ motion for a permanent injunction by 5pm on Monday Nov 8. The petitioners shall file any reply by 5pm on Tuesday Nov. 9,” it said.

But with Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett, along with Chief Justice John Roberts siding with liberals on many cases recently, including those of vaccine mandates, no case should be considered a lock at the Supreme Court.