Greg Abbott Issues Illegal Executive Order Banning COVID Vaccine Mandates In Schools

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott escalated his campaign to turn the state’s schools into COVID super spreaders with an executive order banning COVID vaccination mandates.

Abbott’s executive order states in part:

1.    No governmental entity can compel any individual to receive a COVID-19 vaccine.  I hereby suspend Section 81.082(f)(1) of the Texas Health and Safety Code and any other relevant statutes to the extent necessary to ensure that no governmental entity can compel any individual to receive a COVID-19 vaccine.  

2.    State agencies and political subdivisions shall not adopt or enforce any order, ordinance, policy, regulation, rule, or similar measure that requires an individual to provide, as a condition of receiving any service or entering any place, documentation regarding the individual’s vaccination status for any COVID-19 vaccine.  I hereby suspend Section 81.085(i) of the Texas Health and Safety Code and any other relevant statutes to the extent necessary to enforce this prohibition.  This paragraph does not apply to any documentation requirements necessary for the administration of a COVID-19 vaccine.

3.    Any public or private entity that is receiving or will receive public funds through any means, including grants, contracts, loans, or other disbursements of taxpayer money, shall not require a consumer to provide, as a condition of receiving any service or entering any place, documentation regarding the consumer’s vaccination status for any COVID-19 vaccine.  No consumer may be denied entry to a facility financed in whole or in part by public funds for failure to provide documentation regarding the consumer’s vaccination status for any COVID-19 vaccine.

Abbott’s order goes beyond schools and includes arenas and concert venues that were financed with taxpayer dollars. Gov. Abbott is clearly interfering with the duty of schools to keep students safe, and he is also interfering with businesses’ right to dictate their terms and conditions of service.

The order, just like his mask mandate ban and several other vaccine mandate bans in the South, will likely be ruled illegal. Even if the legislature passes a law, a federal challenge will be forthcoming due to violations of the civil rights of students.

Republicans are siding with COVID, and these callous political games will cost people their lives.

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Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

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Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association

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