HARRISON, MIDDLETON PRAISE ABBOTT’S CALL TO BAN COVID VACCINE MANDATES

Austin – Governor Greg Abbott joined 20 other governors in demanding, “the federal government end COVID vaccine mandates for the U.S. Military.”

He also said he expects “legislation this session to ban any COVID vaccine mandate in Texas.”

Representative Brian Harrison and Senator-Elect Mayes Middleton stated, “COVID vaccine mandates destroy medical freedom and have no place in Texas.  Gov. Abbott is exactly right to demand a law banning them.

“We look forward to working with him to pass the “Texas COVID Vaccine Freedom Act” so that he can sign into law the boldest assertion of individual liberty with respect to COVID vaccine mandates and the most comprehensive ban in America. Texas will lead the nation in fighting tyrannical COVID vaccine mandates next session.”

On Nov. 14, Harrison and Senator-Elect Middleton, re-filed the Texas COVID Vaccine Freedom Act, HB 81 and SB 177, which would ban all COVID-19 vaccine mandates in Texas – without being burdensome on businesses or healthcare providers – by confirming the rights of Texans to give informed consent before receiving this medical treatment, making it illegal to administer a COVID-19 vaccine without receiving informed consent, and protecting employees from being fired for refusing a COVID-19 vaccine.

The Biden administration and private entities in Texas are still mandating COVID-19 vaccines on Texans, despite there being no scientific or epidemiological justification for the mandates.

Even the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s states, “COVID-19 prevention recommendations no longer differentiate based on a person’s vaccination status.”

“Yet, Texans continue to lose their jobs due to completely unprecedented COVID-19 vaccine mandates.”

Multiple states, including Florida and Arizona, have taken legislative action to protect the rights and liberties of their citizens, and it is far past time that Texas ban these liberty-destroying mandates as well.

Additionally, Biden’s CDC recently extended the threat of mandates beyond the workplace by adding COVID-19 vaccinations to their immunization schedule for all schoolchildren. Texas families deserve legislative protection from the efforts of these unelected bureaucrats to force unwanted COVID-19 vaccines on their children.

Harrison, previously served as Chief of Staff of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and helped launch Operation Warp Speed, first filed this bill just hours after being sworn into the Texas House of Representatives in October 2021.

Although there were only 8 days left in the last special session of the 87th legislature, the bill garnered wide support among the public, stakeholders, and his colleagues – including nearly 50 co-authors. It was endorsed by the Republican Party of Texas, which also adopted a ban on vaccine mandates as a platform plank at this year’s Convention.

With the benefit of close to two years of empirical data on COVID-19 vaccines, it is well demonstrated that they are not very effective at prevention of transmission, and data has shown natural immunity may be more effective in preventing Covid-19 infection compared with vaccination. During a surge in cases earlier this year, COVID-19 vaccine mandates led to the counterintuitive and harmful practice of healthy, but unvaccinated, healthcare workers being fired while vaccinated providers with active and communicable cases of COVID-19 were called back to treat patients.