United States: the governor of Texas bans the obligation to be vaccinated
A Texan is vaccinated against Covid-19 in Pasadena.
(illustrative image) Cécile CLOCHERET AFP / File
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
In his executive order, Governor Greg Abbott wrote: "The Covid-19 vaccine is safe, effective and is our best defense against the virus, but it must always remain voluntary and never be imposed".
Head-on opposition to President Biden's September 9 directive that requires companies with more than 100 employees or federal government contractors to impose vaccination or a weekly test.
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With our correspondent in Houston
,
Thomas Harms
In Houston there are those who don't understand, like Maddie who works in a school.
“
I don't know what to think of this decision.
I was vaccinated before my school forced me to.
"
On the other hand, the elected Dan Crenshaw sums up the opinion of the Republicans.
“
Governor Greg Abbott did what he had to do to protect Texas businesses.
Many bosses either want to be fashionable or they are so afraid of the risk that it is pathological: they immediately put in place rules that require vaccination, so people want to defend their freedom.
"
Last August Governor Greg Abbott clarified that businesses were free and did not need government to run or impose decisions on them.
This was true for vaccines, but before it was also the case for masks.
In any case, this directive is a new headache for Texan companies.
“A
lot of lawyers are on the phone right now with company executives or CFOs to find out how these companies will react to the new directive,” explains Mark Jones, political scientist at Rice University.
This gives the thousands of employees and unions opposed to the compulsory vaccination in their workplace to oppose it.
"
A new legal battle looms between Texas and the Washington administration over who will have the final say, because nothing says that the governor has the power to make this kind of unilateral decision.
Asked about the initiative of Greg Abbott, the spokesperson for the White House recalled Tuesday that federal law "
prevailed
" over the laws of American states.
Jen Psaki judges the decision of the governor of Texas above all "
political
".
It must be said that in a year the election of the governor will be held and other Republican candidates more to the right are gaining points.
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United States
Coronavirus
Vaccines