Vaccination passports are prohibited but there are limits to your results

Texas businesses cannot force their customers to show that they have been vaccinated against the coronavirus, according to a law that Governor Greg Abbott recently signed into law.

“Vaccination passports are now prohibited in the state of Texas,” declared the Republican president in a video on June 7.

Such ‘passports’ have become a contentious point in the national debate over the coronavirus vaccine, with some claiming that they give companies an option to restart operations in safe conditions and others claiming that people should not have to reveal their status. clinic to receive services or to enter commercial establishments.

Texas is one of 15 states, all under Republican governors, that have imposed some form of restriction on so-called vaccination passports.

But it is still uncertain what effects the new law will have, one of the first in the state in response to the pandemic.

Few large businesses in Texas, like sports stadiums and supermarkets, have been asking for proof of vaccination.

Others, such as universities and hospitals that have wanted to check whether their students or patients are vaccinated against the virus, may now be forced to reconsider their plans.

At least one major cruise company will continue to require its passengers to prove they have been immunized before leaving Galveston next month.

A Carnival spokesperson said the company follows federal guideline that 95% of passengers must have received all their doses of vaccine.

Texas does not prevent companies from implementing “protocols for the review and control of covid-19 infections in accordance with state and federal laws for the protection of public health.”

The law takes effect just as the state is trying to raise its vaccination rates.

About 59% of Texas adults have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine, but the number of injections given statewide each week has been declining since it peaked in early April.

President Joe Biden has set a goal for 70% of Americans to be at least partially vaccinated by July 4, although the country is unlikely to achieve this.

Public health experts say a law banning vaccination passports could cloud the message that vaccines are safe and an effective way to fight the virus.

“Anything we say that gives the impression that getting vaccinated is not necessary is not desirable, it is not a good message at this point,” said Dr. James McDeavitt, senior vice president and dean of clinical affairs at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.

“The fact that we are saying that vaccination passports are prohibited transmits the false idea that the vaccine is not important.”

The ban is just one element of a far-reaching bill to tackle the pandemic, but the one that has received the most attention.

The Texans for Vaccine Choice organization has been one of its strongest proponents arguing that people should not be denied services or entry into business for rejecting the vaccine.

The punishment for refusing to comply with the new law is largely limited to companies that work with the state, so those that do not receive money from the state government have little reason to comply.

However, there may be little motivation to review whether or not a client is vaccinated after workers have spent a year fighting to enforce mask-wearing orders, said Elizabeth Sepper, a law professor at the University of Texas at Austin. .

“They have endured many things. I don’t think that even if a business, say a restaurant, imposed that requirement, that employees could realistically or would be willing to enforce it, “he said.

Businesses that defy the new law will not be able to receive grants or contracts from the state.

State agencies that accredit certain businesses, such as hair salons, bars, and medical facilities, could condition your permission to continue working on complying with the law, but it remains to be seen whether they will.

The Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation is still developing an implementation plan, said its spokeswoman Tela Mange.

The governor’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

The law follows an executive order from Abbott in April that prohibited state agencies from requiring Texans to show they had been vaccinated in order to receive services and enter their buildings.

The law refers directly to customers, but does not say anything about employees.

Legal experts say that companies are generally allowed to require their employees to be vaccinated, unless they have medical or religious justification for not doing so.

Last week, Houston Methodist Hospital suspended 178 employees without pay for refusing to receive the vaccine before a June deadline, and on Saturday a federal judge rejected a lawsuit by hospital employees over the requirement.

The hospital company, which has about 25,000 total employees, was the first in the state to require its employees to get vaccinated.

Other companies are expected to follow suit, especially in the medical sector, where many hospitals already require their employees to get a flu shot.

“There are many compelling reasons why you have to insist on this for patient safety,” said Dr. John Carlo, executive director of Prism Health North Texas and a member of the Covid-19 Task Force of the Medical Association of Texas.

No Dallas-Fort Worth Hospital Council hospital is requiring the vaccine from its employees, according to Steve Love, president and CEO.

At Baylor College of Medicine, employees will have to get vaccinated against the coronavirus “at some point in the future,” McDeavitt said, not students, as the law does not allow it.

“Normally we don’t see them as customers, but they are paying for a service that we provide,” he said. “That is why we cannot demand the vaccine from our students.”

–