Texas Gov. Greg Abbott banned public and private entities from enforcing a COVID vaccine mandate. The state recently allowed private businesses to choose if employees should get the vaccine.
Abbott’s Executive Order GA-40 states:
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. I hereby suspend all relevant statutes to the extent necessary to enforce this prohibition.The maximum fine allowed under Section 4 1 8. 173 of the Texas Government Code and the State’s emergency management plan shall apply to any “failure to comply with” this executive order. Confinement in jail is not an available penalty for violating this executive order.This executive order shall supersede any conflicting order issued by local officials in response to the COVID-19 disaster. Pursuant to Section 418.016(a) of the Texas Government Code, I hereby suspend Sections 418.1015(b) and 418.108 of the Texas Government Code, Chapter 8 1, Subchapter E of the Texas Health and Safety Code, and any other relevant statutes, to the extent necessary to ensure that local officials do not impose restrictions in response to the COVID-19 disaster that are inconsistent with this executive order.
It appears Abbott made the decision after Biden demanded private businesses with more than 100 people to mandate vaccines and require the vaccine for federal employees.
“WHEREAS, in yet another instance of federal overreach, the Biden Administration is now bullying many private entities into imposing COVID-19 vaccine mandates, causing workforce disruptions that threaten Texas’s continued recovery from the COVID-19 disaster,” wrote Abbott.
American Airlines and Southwest Airlines, based in Texas, require all employees to get the vaccine.
Texas banned vaccine passports. Abbott has resisted calls to reissue a mask mandate. He banned local governments and schools from issuing mask and vaccine mandates.
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