On Tuesday, Governor Greg Abbott banned government-mandated “vaccine passports” in Texas.
What We Know:
- The Republican governor signed an executive order that prohibits state agencies, or organizations receiving state funding, from requiring proof of vaccination to receive services. It also states that any public or private institution that receives government funding cannot deny someone for failing to provide proof of vaccination.
- According to NBC News, the movement follows a similar motion from Florida’s Governor Ron DeSantis who also banned vaccine passports last Friday. Although there are currently no plans announced for the United States federal government to require individuals to provide a vaccine passport, the bans serve as a preventative measure for Republican leaders.
- Abbott explained his decision in a video announcement, claiming that his residents are returning to “normalcy” as vaccination efforts should increase “without treading on Texans’ personal freedoms.”
“But, as I have said all along, these vaccines are always voluntary and never forced,” Abbott states. “Government should not require any Texan to show proof of vaccination and reveal private health information just to go about their daily lives.”
- Health officials in Texas have reported 4,167 new confirmed COVID-19 cases Tuesday, and the addition of 1,580 other previously unreported cases took the state’s pandemic total to just over 2.8 million cases. Of those, an estimated 69,241 cases were active Tuesday and 2,882 cases required hospitalization on Monday.
Johns Hopkins University data suggests the coronavirus death toll in Texas is 48,748 people.
