COVID employer vaccination bill advances with some accommodations for health providers

AUSTIN — Texas health care providers would be allowed to require staff members who choose not to take the COVID-19 vaccine to wear protective equipment to safeguard the health of vulnerable patients under fast-moving legislation to prohibit employers from mandating the vaccination for workers.

Sen. Mayes Middleton, the Galveston Republican who is carrying Senate Bill 7, said he made the concession so that medical organizations would relax their opposition to the legislation on grounds that health professionals would be prevented from implementing patient-safety measures they believe are necessary.

The Senate late Thursday gave preliminary approval to the bill on a split vote. All 12 Democrats voted against it and they were joined by Republican Robert Nichols who said health professionals should be trusted to determine whether their workers should be vaccinated.

The other 18 Senate Republicans voted for the bill. Final approval is expected as soon as Monday and then the bill goes to the House.

Middleton presented the measure as one of individual freedom and said workers should not be placed in the position of having to choose between a vaccine they don't want and a job they need.

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"We're leaving it up to the individual," Middleton said. "And if it's not right for their own personal medical decision or religious or conscience or whatever reason, then they don't have to suffer that adverse action" of losing a job.

Democratic Sen. Nathan Johnson of Dallas noted that in Texas, state law gives employers wide latitude on hiring and firing decisions, unless they discriminate on the basis of race, sex, age or other protected classifications. He questioned why people opposed to employer-required vaccinations should be added to that list.

"Your bill creates in a big, swift move of government another protected class of people," Johnson told Middleton during the floor debate. "And that protected class people is people who think that vaccines are going to hurt them."

Middleton and other supporters of the bill questioned the safety of the vaccines, the earliest of which were developed under then-President Donald Trump's Operation Warp Speed after the novel coronavirus reached American shores in early 2020.

When he announced the vaccine's rollout in December of that year, Trump boasted that his initiative "harnessed the full power of government, the genius of American scientists, and the might of American industry to save millions and millions of lives all over the world."

Middleton, however, questioned the early response to what has become a global pandemic that has caused 1.12 million Americans deaths.

"We were in a fog of war in our COVID response. Americans and Texans were not getting to make their own decisions for themselves," Middleton said. "Whether that was lockdowns or the vaccination itself, and this bill helps make that right."

Nichols, who said he has served several years on hospital boards in his East Texas Senate district, noted that when he first came to the Legislature in 2007, Republicans were seen as protecting the rights of business and Democrats were aligned with rank-and-file workers.

"I never thought I'd be in this building long enough that I would see Republicans trying to interfere in that (business) relationship and Democrats protecting the businesses," Nichols said. "That's just the way it was when I first got in this chamber. We were the ones who were the friends of business, very pro business party."

John C. Moritz covers Texas government and politics for the USA Today Network in Austin. Contact him at jmoritz@gannett.com and follow him on X, formerly called Twitter, @JohnnieMo.

This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: Senate advances bill to prohibit employer COVID vaccine requirements