Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) on Monday issued an executive order prohibiting all entities in Texas — including private businesses — from imposing COVID-19 vaccination mandates for employees and customers.
He tweeted that the coronavirus vaccine is "safe, effective, and our best defense against the virus, but should always remain voluntary and never forced." He accused the Biden administration of "bullying" private companies into having vaccine mandates, saying such rules could cause "workforce disruptions that threaten Texas' continued recovery from the COVID-19 disaster."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Is the royal family a security risk?A Chinese spy's access to Prince Andrew has raised questions about Chinese influence in the UK
-
Assad's future life in exileThe Explainer What lies ahead for the former Syrian dictator, now he's fled to Russia?
-
The best panettones for ChristmasThe Week Recommends Supermarkets are embracing novel flavour combinations as sales of the festive Italian sweet bread soar
-
Bird flu one mutuation from human threat, study findsSpeed Read A Scripps Research Institute study found one genetic tweak of the virus could enable its spread among people
-
Dark chocolate tied to lower diabetes riskSpeed Read The findings were based on the diets of about 192,000 US adults over 34 years
-
ACA opens 2025 enrollment, enters 2024 raceSpeed Read Mike Johnson promises big changes to the Affordable Care Act if Trump wins the election
-
McDonald's sued over E. coli linked to burgerSpeed Read The outbreak has sickened at least 49 people in 10 states and left one dead
-
Long Covid: study shows damage to brain's 'control centre'The Explainer Research could help scientists understand long-term effects of Covid-19 as well as conditions such as MS and dementia
-
Israel, UN agree to Gaza pauses for polio vaccinationsSpeed Read Gaza's first case of polio in 25 years was confirmed last week in a 10-month-old boy who is now partially paralyzed
-
FDA OKs new Covid vaccine, available soonSpeed read The CDC recommends the new booster to combat the widely-circulating KP.2 strain
-
Mpox: how dangerous is new health emergency?Today's Big Question Spread of potentially deadly sub-variant more like early days of HIV than Covid, say scientists
