Everton wrote
Texas governor bans all COVID-19 vaccine mandates, including by private
businesses
Biden administration set to require that employers with more than 100
workers ensure employees are vaccinated
The Associated Press ?Posted: Oct 11, 2021 8:38 PM ET | Last Updated:
12 hours ago
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, shown in June, issued an executive order on
Monday banning all COVID-19 vaccine mandates. (Eric Gay/The Associated
Press)
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued an executive order on Monday to prohibit
any entity ?including private businesses ?from enforcing a COVID-19
vaccine mandate on workers, and he called on state lawmakers to pass a
similar ban into law.
The move comes as the Biden administration is set to issue rules
requiring employers with more than 100 workers ensure their employees
are either vaccinated or tested weekly for the coronavirus. Several
major companies, including Texas-based American Airlines and Southwest
Airlines, have said they would abide by the federal mandate.
"No entity in Texas can compel receipt of a COVID-19 vaccine by any
individual, including an employee or a consumer, who objects to such
vaccination for any reason of personal conscience, based on a religious
belief, or for medical reasons, including prior recovery from COVID-19,"
Abbott wrote in his order.
Abbott, who was previously vaccinated and also later tested positive for
COVID-19, noted in his order that "vaccines are strongly encouraged for
those eligible to receive one, but must always be voluntary for Texans."
Montana has passed a law preventing employers from mandating that
workers get vaccines, and a number of states have explicitly said
schools cannot require vaccinations.
Abbott previously barred vaccine mandates by state and local government
agencies but until now had let private companies make their own rules
for their workers. It was not immediately clear if his latest executive
order would face a quick court challenge.
A Dallas County Health and Human Services nurse helps to administer
vaccines at a site in Dallas on Aug. 26. (LM Otero/The Associated Press)
The new order also carries political implications. The two-term
Republican is facing pressure from two candidates in next year's
Republican primary: former state senator Don Huffines and former Florida
Congressman and Texas state party chairman Allen West. Both have
attacked Abbott's COVID-19 policies and have strongly opposed vaccine
mandates.
"He knows which way the wind is blowing. He knows conservative
Republican voters are tired of the vaccine mandates and tired of him
being a failed leader," Huffines tweeted.
West announced this week that he tested positive for COVID-19 and has
been hospitalized, but he also tweeted he remains opposed to vaccine
mandates.
Texas has seen a recent decrease in new COVID-19 cases and
hospitalizations. But a rising death toll from the recent surge caused
by the delta variant has the state rapidly approaching 67,000 total
fatalities since the pandemic began in 2020.
This is good news. In reality, the more dead Texans the better off
America and the world will be. Greg is doing mankind a favor by
reducing the number of Trump supporters in the biggest rightwing sewer on >earth next to Taliban infested Afghanistan.
Let's hope he's not vaccinated and dies of COVID too!
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