By the way. "mandates are not laws" is a nice little mantra. But it is not strictly true. A mandate is the law of the land until it expirees or is found to be unconstitutional:
https://en.as.com/en/2021/09/10/latest_news/1631227244_232419.html
Is the vaccine mandate a law?
The federal vaccine mandate, although not passed by the US Congress, still carries the same legal requirement that it be followed and will be the law of the land until it expires, is canceled, revoked or is found unlawful by the courts. The US Constitution’s Second Amendment gives the President his authority to issue
executive orders, along with additional Acts of Congress.
Executive orders, or directives, like laws passed by Legislatures can be called
mandates and can have sunset clauses, taken off the books at a later date or be found unconstitutional by the courts and struck down.
In other words, until it is found unconstitutional, it is the law. By the way, the same applies to laws. If a law is found unconstitutional it too is no longer in effect. A mandate is more likely to be struck down since it does not have the full support of the Congress behind it, but that does not mean that it will be.