Governor Greg Abbott of Texas has issued an executive order that will ban private employers and the Texas Government from mandating the COVID-19 vaccine on any individual or employee.
This is certainly a meaningful order from the Texas Governor and one that will directly go against the President’s agenda. Biden has struggled to find answers to Republican pushback against the vaccine mandate, but that hasn’t stopped Biden and his administration from trying to find new ways to force the vaccine on private employers and millions of unvaccinated individuals who are hesitant to get it.
It’s important to note that Governor Abbott was actually diagnosed with COVID-19 and eventually recovered after a few weeks. He believes that the government has no authority to mandate vaccines in any circumstance, a political viewpoint that millions of people agree with, especially in the State of Texas.
Abbott doesn’t specifically have anything against the COVID-19 vaccine, he did express and encourage people to get it. At the same time, he simply doesn’t believe that it should be mandated on private employers and the individuals that work for them.
It’s possible that Abbott’s new policy will face court challenges. It’s also unclear if companies will obey Abbott’s ban on vaccine mandates.
It’s expected that in a few weeks, Biden’s administration may be launching a private employer vaccine mandate that requires all private employers that currently hold more than 100 employees to verify vaccination status from their employees. Abbott’s new order goes directly against that proposal and could be a controversial subject to address in the coming weeks, especially for private companies that don’t want to get into legal trouble on either side.
Vaccine mandates are extremely unpopular in some states and somewhat popular in others. With that being said, the current wave of the coronavirus appears to be decreasing quite rapidly in several parts of the country. It’s still ‘possible’ that a new variant of the coronavirus could emerge and create another harmful spike in cases that could create problems. At the same time, requiring vaccines may not be the best answer to the problem either.
Only time will tell if Governor Abbott’s new executive order will be legally challenged in court. It’s possible that it will be struck down but there’s also a chance that it remains in place and millions of Texas citizens are probably hoping that it does remain in effect.
