"Homicidal" is the right word. Abbott is just a less publicly inept DeSantis:
Gov. Greg Abbott on Wednesday announced an executive order banning COVID-19 vaccine mandates regardless of a vaccine’s approval status with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
He also said he was adding the issue to the agenda for the current special session of the Texas Legislature.
The order comes two days after the FDA granted full approval to the Pfizer vaccine. That raised questions about the fate of a previous Abbott order that prohibited vaccine mandates, but only for those under emergency authorization.
Abbott’s latest order is simple, saying “no governmental entity can compel any individual to receive a COVID-19 vaccine.” The order preserves exceptions for places like nursing homes and state-supported living centers.
“Vaccine requirements and exemptions have historically been determined by the legislature, and their involvement is particularly important to avoid a patchwork of vaccine mandates across Texas,” Abbott said in a statement.
Uh, yeah, they've already done that:
Subject to Subsection (c), the Department of State Health Services may modify or delete any of the immunizations in Subsection (a) or may require immunizations against additional diseases as a requirement for admission to any elementary or secondary school.
Subsection (c) refers to health risks to individuals from listed vaccines; it doesn't speak to the need for the legislature to add a new vaccine to the list.
Abbott is just playing politics. If the Lege doesn't add covid-19 to the list by the end of this special session (which comes in 12 days), it won't be Abbott's fault. Anybody think he'll call them back until they do pass the legislation he's asking for? Yeah, neither do I.
Abbott is also playing dictator. Having declared an emergency, he now seems to think he can override all existing laws if he so desires. What this executive order has to do with an "emergency" is anybody's guess, but it'll take months to get that issue before a trial court, or settled by the Texas Supreme Court. The most the Supreme Court has done so far is rule on interlocutory appeals, not on the legal basis for Abbott's increasingly authoritarian orders. (It will be interesting to see the Court defend Abbott's actions by declaring the emergency gives the Governor the power to suspend public health laws and ban vaccines meant to prevent the spread of infectious disease. Abbott's order today expressly says "I hereby suspend Section 1.082(f)(1) of the Texas Health and Safety Code and and any other relevant statutes...." Why? Because's he's the God Emperor of Texas? How does this order protect anyone except Abbott's political aspirations in the state? I'm still struggling with the rational basis for such declarations. But, as I say, the courts have yet to address that issue.) Meanwhile, Rome (Texas) continues to burn; as does the rest of the state.
The answer is "politics." The health and safety of our schoolchildren, teachers, and school staff be damned. Like I said: another DeSantis, just
slightly less politically clumsy.*
*In case you're wondering, the highest number of covid cases in Texas was 14,218 on January 11, 2021. We are only 290 cases away from matching that number. But we don't need a vaccine mandate in schools, or anywhere else in the state, because: reasons. I (almost) pity the deputy AG who finally has to defend that argument in court.
