WHEREAS, Governor Greg Abbott’s executive order prohibiting vaccine and mask mandates will expire, and he has called for “legislation this session to ban ANY COVID vaccine mandate in Texas”; and

WHEREAS, many Texans were coerced to receive COVID-19 vaccinations against their preference without knowing the long-term effects; and

WHEREAS, many Texans lost their jobs, ability to attend school, access to public places, access to loved ones, and many other freedoms because they chose not to receive the COVID-19 vaccine; and

WHEREAS, many COVID-19 vaccine mandates imposed by government entities, including the federal government, have been overturned in courts; and

WHEREAS, Texas healthcare workers are still subject to COVID-19 vaccine coercion and job loss because the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) mandate has been upheld in court; and

WHEREAS, the federal vaccine mandates put employers in the untenable position of making and enforcing healthcare decisions for individual employees; and

WHEREAS, informed consent is considered a standard ethical practice in every facet of healthcare treatment, except for COVID-19 vaccines under emergency use authorization by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA); and

WHEREAS, we now know that COVID-19 vaccinated individuals can still become infected with and transmit COVID-19; now

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED

  1. That the Republican Party of Texas agrees with Governor Greg Abbott’s call for a ban on ALL COVID vaccine mandates in Texas; and
  2. That the Republican Party of Texas defends medical freedom and affirms the rights of all Texans to make their own healthcare decisions without coercion; and
  3. That the Republican Party of Texas supports codifying informed consent in Texas; and
  4. That the Republican Party of Texas specifically endorses “The Texas COVID-19 Vaccine Freedom Act” (HB 81/SB 177) filed in the 88th Session of the Texas Legislature, and any future iterations of legislation that affirms Texans’ rights to medical freedom and informed consent.