Texas Gov. Greg Abbott bans COVID-19 vaccine mandates by private businesses : NPR
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
October 11, 20219:18 PM ET
The Associated Press
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Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (seen here on Sept. 22) has issued an executive order banning private companies from enforcing COVID vaccine mandates. Joel Marinez/The Monitor via AP hide caption
toggle caption Joel Marinez/The Monitor via AP
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (seen here on Sept. 22) has issued an executive order banning private companies from enforcing COVID vaccine mandates.
Joel Marinez/The Monitor via AP
AUSTIN, Texas — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued an executive order Monday to prohibit any entity, including private business, from enforcing a COVID-19 vaccine mandate on workers and 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 to be vaccinated or test 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.
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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."
Texas has seen a recent decrease in newly reported 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.
The governor added the issue to the agenda for lawmakers to address during the ongoing special session Abbott called for redrawing voting maps and new restrictions on transgender student athletes. Montana has passed a law preventing employers from mandating 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 Abbott's latest executive order would face a quick court challenge.
Abbott's new order also carries political implications. The two-term Republican is facing pressure from two candidates in next year's GOP primary, former state Sen. Don Huffines and former Florida Congressman and Texas state party chairman Allen West, have attacked Abbott's COVID-19 policies and have strongly opposed vaccine mandates.
"He knows which the 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 recently tested positive for COVID-19. He was briefly hospitalized, but also tweeted he remains opposed to vaccine mandates. West announced Monday on his social media accounts that he had returned home.
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So the governor wants to tell private businesses what their rules can be for employees. It’s hard to see how this is a conservative position.
Also, it’s an executive order and not based on legislation. If he were telling employers to require the vaccine, conservatives would be calling this government tyranny.
It isn't. Populism isn't conservative.
Kowtowing to Trump is though.
It really isn't. There are more and more Republicans trying to band together to form a center-right party OR persuade other non-Trump Republican voters to vote for Dems in the mid-terms next year against alt+right Trumpists.
Then lets have all of the non-Trump republicans, stand up where all can see, and proclaim that Joe Biden won the election. That will resolve all questions about kowtowing.
He is under pressure from two much stricter people who want to primary him.
Former State Senator Huffines, the most conservative man ever elected in TX and crazy Allen West.
...has COVID caused pneumonia and is posting anti-vax bullshit from his hospital bed.
He's a socialist. Government taking an active role in private business? That's exactly what Socialism is.
No. It isn't.
You're right. It's fascism
It is much closer to fascism than it is to socialism, to be sure.
I'm not exactly sure where I'm supposed to turn to find a politician and/or party that will leave me the fuck alone.
On that we are in agreement. I'm a registered Democrat but am falling out of love them rather rapidly
What you're looking for is called anarchy. Any and every government, that ever was, is, or will be, will create rules that will effect you and what you want. That is called civilization, and a society.
If his current poll numbers are any indication, Abbott is playing a losing game.
He knows his political future is over so he has adopted a fuck Texans attitude.
I hope so. I've had his silly Trump-butt-smoching shenanigans right up to the eyeballs.
He's not.
He knows that all he has to do is get through the primaries and he's going to win. Plus, he can always count on Biden's support.
Abbot has been like this ever since Costello dumped him for a real man.
And Who's on First has just never been the same since
Touche.
The sad thing is, there are people that will cheer this on.
So, since they have decided they can tell companies what to do, where does it end.
And why single out this one vaccine. Hell make any and all vaccines not mandatory. Have a free for all of disease.
I would like to know how he thinks this would work.
If an airline made it mandatory, he cannot tell the airline they cannot mandate the vaccine.
He cannot tell a trucking company that travels to the state to not have a mandate.
He is actually telling hospitals in the state they don't have to mandate the vac for nurses and doctors...
I sure as hell wouldn't want to be treated by idiots that are healthcare workers that refuse to get the shot.
Hell, we had an article the other day about a shortage of EMT workers because they were falling sick.
But by all means, how dare anyone tell people to get a shot to save their lives.
I am getting to the point where I say fuck it. Let the idiots die off.
Maybe he’s trying to deflect attention away from how he bumbled his way into a ‘ending rape in Texas’ position. Pulling that dodge in defense of the abortion ban obligates him to present what initiatives he has to end rape in Texas. Everyone should get excited about the end of rape in Texas!
You have to wonder how Abbott is going to deal with UAL. Mandatory vaccine required, employees are released that refuse to get the vaccine. UAL has a large hub in Texas.