Texas governor bans vaccine mandates

Governor Greg Abbott has issued another executive order prohibiting vaccine mandates by any entity in Texas, reversing his position of leaving the issue to private companies.

Abbott had issued an executive order in August banning only government entities from mandating COVID-19 vaccines.

In announcing his decision Monday on Twitter, the governor also said that he added the ban on all vaccine mandates to the Texas Legislature's special session, which will conclude on Oct 19.

"The COVID-19 vaccine is safe, effective, and our best defense against the virus, but should always remain voluntary & never forced," Abbott tweeted.

Abbott also had banned mask mandates in May.

That mask-ban order is being challenged in court by 30 or so school districts from Houston, Dallas, Austin, San Antonio and other parts of Texas.

Conversely, Abbott is also suing more than a dozen school districts for ignoring his mask ban.

The Texas Legislature also has banned businesses from requiring proof of COVID vaccination from customers.

Abbott's latest order seemed to aim at the Biden administration's requirement issued last month that all federal employees and contractors be vaccinated.

"In yet another instance of federal overreach, the Biden Administration is now bullying many private entities into imposing COVID-19 vaccine mandates, causing workforce disruptions that threaten Texas's continued recovery from the COVID-19 disaster," Abbott said in his executive order.

The Biden administration mandate has prompted most major US airlines — they are considered federal contractors — to require their workers to get vaccinated.

United Airlines said the order made many vaccine holdouts change their mind as they risked losing their jobs, according to CBS.

As of Sept 28, 593 employees refused to get the vaccine; by Oct 7, that number decreased to 232, the company said. Only 3 percent of United's US employees have not been vaccinated.

Delta Air Lines took a different approach. CEO Ed Bastian said there is a $200-per-month surcharge for unvaccinated staff, and the carrier's compliance rate was at 85 percent.

Dallas-based Southwest Airlines canceled nearly 2,000 flights over the weekend and more than 500 on Monday. Some people claimed it was the result of a protest against the federal vaccine mandate.

Southwest's CEO Gary Kelly told CNBC on Tuesday that wasn't the case, and the vaccine issue had "zero" contribution to the cancellations.

Kelly also said that his company is encouraging employees to get vaccinated by "offering the equivalent of two days' pay for them to turn in their vaccination card" to achieve the goal of complying with the federal mandate.

The latest data from Texas Department of Health and Human Service show that 62.78 percent of people age 12 and older are fully vaccinated.

Abbott's order was viewed as another concession to conservatives from his Republican Party.

His primary-election opponent, Don Huffines, a former state senator from Dallas, has been pushing the governor to crack down on vaccine mandates.

"I am very pleased to see that our campaign has forced Greg Abbott to reverse his position on this important issue," Huffines said in a statement Monday.