Support TX SB1669 No Forced Vaccines

UPDATE 5/23/2021

TIME IS RUNNING OUT THIS LEGISLATIVE SESSION (Last Day 5/31/21)

URGE LAWMAKERS TO PROTECT TEXANS FROM FORCED OR COERCED VACCINATION AND SHARE WITH THEM COVERAGE OF HISTORIC HEARING

GOVERNOR’S EXECUTIVE ORDER WILL NOT HELP ONCE VACCINE IS LICENCED

Contact Your Representative and Senator, and Leadership to Tell them Texans Deserve No Forced COVID-19 Vaccination, No Vaccine Passports, No Exceptions!

Dear Texas NVIC Advocacy Team Members,

In spite of Texans being injured and killed after COVID-19 vaccination, being fired and shot shamed by employers in Texas over not taking a COVID-19 vaccine, and businesses forcing customers to leave or wear masks for not taking a vaccine, the Texas Legislature has failed to pass any meaningful protection from forced vaccination or vaccine discrimination.

SB 1669 is unfortunately dead since the legislators on the Senate State Affairs committee never voted it out. It is important to note that the only way protections will be passed is if they are amended onto other moving legislation. We need action from the legislature now. Time is running out for this session and the legislature doesn’t meet for another 2 years! So many people will be fired and hurt if protections contained in CSSB 1669 are not amended onto and passed in other legislation.

We are only asking you for 5 emails and 5 phone calls total as well as your prayers in this final stretch of legislative session. Please don’t regret that you didn’t do all you could to get the law changed to protect your family from forced and coerced COVID-19 vaccination and discrimination.

ACTION NEEDED

1) Call, Email, Tag on Social Media, or Visit your own Texas State Senator and State Representative and tell them that none of the bills have passed to stop FORCED or COERCED COVID-19 Vaccination and that Texans Deserve NO Forced COVID-19 Vaccinations, NO Vaccine Passports, No Exceptions! 

Ask them to amend other moving legislation to prohibit COVID-19 vaccine mandates for employees, from government, or for right of access to businesses, public spaces, or services and to prohibit discrimination over COVID-19 vaccination or past infection immunity.  Tell them why this is important to your family.

When you email, ask them to look at this article summarizing the hearing on SB 1669 so they can understand how important these protective amendments are and hear from Texas doctors and citizens against COVID-19 vaccine mandates. https://www.nvic.org/NVIC-Vaccine-News/May-2021/texas-bill-pending.aspx  

If you do not know who your Texas State Representative is, or their contact information including their social media accounts, you can login to the NVIC Advocacy Portal, click on the “State Teams” tab and then “My State,” and we display your elected officials automatically on the right-hand side of the page. Click on their name to get all their contact information. Their social media accounts are listed as well if you want to comment, direct message, or tag them on their posts or accounts. You can also click here and enter your address in the box that says “Who Represents Me” to find your legislators.

2) Contact Legislative Leadership and give them the same message you gave your State Representative and State Senator.  Look them up and TAG them on social media to get their attention too.

Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, phone (512) 463-0001, [email protected]
House Speaker Dade Phelan, phone (512) 463-1000, [email protected]
Governor Greg Abbott, phone (512) 463-2000 from 9am-5pm and web contact form

3) Register and login to the NVIC Advocacy Portal OFTEN to check for updates.  http://NVICAdvocacy.org. We review bills and make updates daily. Bills can change many times over the legislative process and your timely visits, calls, and emails directed at the correct legislators are critical to this process.

4)  Please forward this action alert to family and friends and ask them to register for the NVIC Advocacy Portal at http://NVICAdvocacy.org and share their concerns with their legislators as well. To share on social media, copy and paste this link: 
https://nvicadvocacy.org/members/Resources/NewsletterArchives/SupportTXSB1669NoForcedVaccines.aspx 

5) Sign up to get NVIC’s Texas “Heads Up” text alerts by texting “Texas” to 202-618-5488. 

TALKING POINTS (It is important to also personalize your own reasons why you and your family want this bill/language to pass). 

  • Protections need to be amended onto other moving legislation now otherwise law-abiding healthy citizens will lose their jobs or be segregated and discriminated against for not taking a COVID-19 vaccine. 
  • Because of COVID-19, we have seen travel restrictions, employment discrimination, and right of access to public venues over masking and testing, and it has started over vaccination.
  • Nobody is saying reasonable precautions shouldn't be taken, but it crosses the line when healthy law-abiding citizens are excluded from day-to-day life for declining to take a COVID-19 vaccine.
  • Nothing is stopping people from getting vaccinated with COVID-19 vaccines.  What we are saying is they shouldn’t be stopped from living a normal life for not taking one.
  • Recent surveys of hospital staff, healthcare workers, essential workers, nursing home staff, and long term care employees report responses in range from 20-60% saying they would not take a COVID-19 vaccine.  Even workers in healthcare want choices. In the absence of protective state laws, there are no state or federal employee protection exceptions to employee vaccine mandates for COVID-19 vaccines.
  • New COVID-19 vaccine mandates could have devastating impacts on the Texas economy as critical employees and customers who don't want to take a vaccine are turned away from tourism, travel, healthcare and long-term care, emergency services, sport events, insurance, child care, education and their employment.
  • Once the COVID-19 vaccines are fully licensed, many businesses concerned about being sued over not mandating the vaccine will enact condition of employment mandates.  Proactive action by the state to prohibit employer mandates not only protects employees, but provides a degree of liability protection to all businesses. If mandates are not a legal option to implement, employers can’t be sued for not mandating the vaccine. Conversely now, Texas employees are suing employers for mandating the vaccine.
  • Medical trade associations like the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Medical Association have been actively lobbying to force vaccination by removing vaccine exemptions. Texas doctors are refusing care to children whose families don’t agree with every vaccine.
  • Vaccine passports in other areas of the country are threatening right of access to public venues.  New York has already announced their vaccine passport, called the “Excelsior Pass” in order to gain entry into events and businesses.
  • As of 5/14/21, there have already been 227,805 COVID-19 Vaccine adverse events and 4,201 COVID-19 Vaccine deaths reported to the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System. Some short-term and all long-term risks of new COVID-19 vaccines are still unknown. When there is risk, there has to be informed consent and the right to refuse a vaccine without penalty. 
  • The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission affirms the legal right of an employer to exclude the employee from the workplace even if an employee cannot get vaccinated for COVID-19 because of a disability or sincerely held religious belief and there is no reasonable accommodation possible. The state will have to step in and protect employees’ right to delay or refuse vaccines.
  • People injured by a COVID-19 vaccine have little recourse. Vaccine manufactures and providers are shielded from liability through the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act, or PREP Act. This federal law establishes that the only option for compensation for COVID-19 vaccine victims is the Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program (CICP). Only eight percent of all petitioners since 2010 have been awarded compensation through the CICP. No legal or medical expert fees are covered, no pain and suffering is awarded, lost wages are capped at $50,000, and there is no judicial appeal. Vaccination must be voluntary.
  • Governor Greg Abbott’s  Executive Order GA 35 falls short at meaningful protection against COVID-19 vaccine mandates because it does not prohibit employers or businesses not funded by the government from requiring vaccines and it allows the government and businesses to require vaccines once the Emergency Use Authorization goes away when the vaccines are fully licensed by the FDA. Moderna, the manufacture of one of the 3 available COVID-19 vaccines, is already seeking full FDA approval, and Pfizer, one of the other manufacturers, announced it would seek full approval in the first half of 2021.
  • One bill filed and moving, SB 968, limits the use of vaccine passports by businesses and government, but it does not prevent forced COVID-19 vaccination from the government or prohibit employer vaccine requirements. Also, the bill still let’s your decision to not be vaccinated get shared by government with any third party if it is health care related. The immunization registry in Texas which all health care providers have access to, records all COVID-19 vaccines administered with no consent, and if you are not in there, it means you have not been vaccinated for COVID-19. This could lead to discrimination and denial of care from the health care industry. 

 VIDEO OF THE HEARING

Senator Hall Lays Out SB 1669 and Invited Doctor Testimony on 5/6/2021 in the Texas Senate State Affairs Committee (video link) (47 minutes).

Public testimony was taken in the afternoon (video link), for testimony of Dawn Richardson, NVIC Director of Advocacy (scroll to 29 minutes out of 4.5 hours)

See NVIC’s article summarizing this historic hearing here: https://www.nvic.org/NVIC-Vaccine-News/May-2021/texas-bill-pending.aspx.

IMPORTANT NEWS

In case you missed it, school children will at least have some protection for now.

On May 18th, Governor Greg Abbott issued an Executive Order prohibiting governmental entities in Texas, including counties, cities, school districts, public health authorities, or government officials, from requiring or mandating mask wearing. Public schools can continue to mask through June 4, but after June 4, no student, teacher, parent, or other staff member or visitor can be required to wear a mask while on campus. 

Additionally, the Texas Department of State Health Services has stated they will not use their rule making authority to mandate the COVID-19 vaccine for school.   

Sincerely,

NVIC Advocacy Team
National Vaccine Information Center
http://NVIC.org and http://NVICAdvocacy.org
https://nvicadvocacy.org/members/Members/ContactUs.aspx

The National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) works diligently to prepare and disseminate our legislative advocacy action alerts and supporting materials.  We request that organizations and members of the public forward our alerts in their original form to assure consistent and accurate messaging and effective action. Please acknowledge NVIC as originators of this work when forwarding to members of the public and like-minded organizations. To receive alerts immediately, register  at http://NVICAdvocacy.org, a website dedicated to this sole purpose and provided as a free public service by NVIC. 


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UPDATE 5/17/2021

HELP STOP FORCED COVID-19 VACCINES AND VACCINE PASSPORTS IN TEXAS

Contact 5 Senators, Your Representative and Senator, and Leadership to Demand No Forced COVID-19 Vaccination, No Vaccine Passports, No Exceptions and ask for their Support of Committee Substitute to SB 1669

Dear Texas NVIC Advocacy Team Members,

We need action from the legislature now. Time is running out for this session and the legislature doesn’t meet for another 2 years! 

Even more employers are mandating COVID-19 Vaccines.  Delta Airlines just announced Friday that all new employees must get the COVID-19 vaccine. Businesses in Austin are requiring proof of COVID-19 vaccination for customers to enter without a mask.  

ACTION NEEDED

1) Please stop everything you are doing and take the time to phone, email, fax and visit the following members of the Texas Senate State Affairs Committee. Tell them more employers are forcing COVID-19 vaccines like Delta Airlines and POLITELY and RESPECTFULLY ask them to vote yes on the committee substitute for SB 1669.Texans deserve No Forced COVID-19 Vaccinations, No Vaccine Passports, No Exceptions! Tell them why this is important to your family.

Brian Birdwell, PHONE (512) 463-0122, FAX (512) 475-3729, Room EXT E1.804

Eddie Lucio, Jr., PHONE (512) 463-0127, FAX (512) 463-0061, Room CAP 3S.5

Jane Nelson, PHONE (512) 463-0112, FAX (512) 463-0923, Room CAP 1E.5

Beverly Powell, PHONE (512) 463-0110, FAX (512) 475-3745, Room EXT E1.708

Judith Zaffirini, PHONE (512) 463-0121, FAX (512) 475-3738, ROOM CAP 1E.14

[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] and

2) TEXT the following message to your Texas Contacts:

HELP STOP FORCED COVID-19 VACCINES AND VACCINE PASSPORTS NOW IN TEXAS
Call and email these 5 senators and politely ask them to VOTE YES on the Committee Substitute for SB 1669 to Prohibit Forced COVID-19 Vaccines in Texas. Texans deserve No Forced COVID-19 Vaccination, No Vaccine Passports, No Exceptions!

Brian Birdwell, PHONE (512) 463-0122

Eddie Lucio, Jr., PHONE (512) 463-0127

Jane Nelson, PHONE (512) 463-0112

Beverly Powell, PHONE (512) 463-0110

Judith Zaffirini, PHONE (512) 463-0121

[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

For More Information: https://nvicadvocacy.org/members/Resources/NewsletterArchives/SupportTXSB1669NoForcedVaccines.aspx 

3) Contact your own Texas State Senator and State Representative and tell them you want No Forced COVID-19 Vaccinations, No Vaccine Passports, No Exceptions! Ask them to pass meaningful protections like those in the committee substitute for SB 1669. Tell them why this is important to your family. If you do not know who your Texas State Representative is, or their contact information, you can login to the NVIC Advocacy Portal, click on the “State Teams” tab and then “My State,” and your elected officials are automatically posted on the right-hand side of the page http://NVICAdvocacy.org  or you can click here and enter your address in the box that says “Who Represents Me”. (see talking points below)

4) Contact Legislative Leadership and tell them Texans deserve No Forced COVID-19 Vaccination, No Vaccine Passports, No Exceptions! Let them know there currently is no legislative protection from forced COVID-19 vaccines and we need them to help to support and move protection like offered in the committee substitute for SB 1669 now.  Politely tell them why this is important to your family.

Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, phone (512) 463-0001, FAX (512) 463-8668, [email protected]
House Speaker Dade Phelan, phone (512) 463-1000, [email protected]
Governor Greg Abbott, phone (512) 463-2000 from 9am-5pm and web contact form

5) Register and login to the NVIC Advocacy Portal OFTEN to check for updates.  http://NVICAdvocacy.org. We review bills and make updates daily. Bills can change many times over the legislative process and your timely visits, calls, and emails directed at the correct legislators are critical to this process.

6)  Please forward this action alert to family and friends and ask them to register for the NVIC Advocacy Portal at http://NVICAdvocacy.org and share their concerns with their legislators as well. To share on social media, copy and paste this link: 
https://nvicadvocacy.org/members/Resources/NewsletterArchives/SupportTXSB1669NoForcedVaccines.aspx 

7) Sign up to get NVIC’s Texas “Heads Up” text alerts by texting “Texas” to 202-618-5488. 

TALKING POINTS (It is important to also personalize your own reasons why you and your family want this bill/language to pass). 

  • SUPPORT The Committee Substitute for SB 1669 by Senator Bob Hall. 
  • The committee substitute for SB 1669 prohibits discrimination or segregation based on COVID-19 vaccination or immune status.
  • This needs to be addressed by legislators now otherwise law abiding healthy citizens will lose their jobs or be segregated and discriminated against for not taking a COVID-19 vaccine. 
  • Special interests are misleading about what this bill does by not acknowledging the committee substitute and they are promoting forced vaccination.  Legislators need to put Texans first and stand up to special interests that profit from forced vaccination.   
  • Because of COVID-19, we have seen travel restrictions, employment discrimination, and right of access to public venues over masking and testing, and it has started over vaccination.
  • Nobody is saying reasonable precautions shouldn't be taken, but it crosses the line when healthy law-abiding citizens are excluded from day-to-day life for declining to take a COVID-19 vaccine.
  • Nothing is stopping people from getting vaccinated with COVID-19 vaccines.  What we are saying is they shouldn’t be stopped from living a normal life for not taking one.
  • Recent surveys of hospital staff, healthcare workers, essential workers, nursing home staff, and long term care employees report responses in range from 20-60% saying they would not take a COVID-19 vaccine.  Even workers in healthcare want choices. In the absence of protective state laws, there are no state or federal employee protection exceptions to employee vaccine mandates for COVID-19 vaccines.
  • New COVID-19 vaccine mandates could have devastating impacts on the Texas economy as critical employees and customers who don't want to take a vaccine are turned away from tourism, travel, healthcare and long-term care, emergency services, sport events, insurance, child care, education and their employment.
  • Once the COVID-19 vaccines are fully licensed, many businesses concerned about being sued over not mandating the vaccine will enact condition of employment mandates.  Proactive action by the state to prohibit employer mandates not only protects employees, but provides a degree of liability protection to all businesses. If mandates are not a legal option to implement, employers can’t be sued for not mandating the vaccine. Conversely now, Texas employees are suing employers for mandating the vaccine.
  • Medical trade associations like the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Medical Association have been actively lobbying to force vaccination by removing vaccine exemptions. Texas doctors are refusing care to children whose families don’t agree with every vaccine.
  • Vaccine passports in other areas of the country are threatening right of access to public venues.  New York has already announced their vaccine passport, called the “Excelsior Pass” in order to gain entry into events and businesses.
  • As of 5/7/21, there have already been 192,954 COVID-19 Vaccine adverse events and 4,057COVID-19 Vaccine deaths reported to the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System. Some short-term and all long-term risks of new COVID-19 vaccines are still unknown. When there is risk, there has to be informed consent and the right to refuse a vaccine without penalty. 
  • The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission affirms the legal right of an employer to exclude the employee from the workplace even if an employee cannot get vaccinated for COVID-19 because of a disability or sincerely held religious belief and there is no reasonable accommodation possible. The state will have to step in and protect employees’ right to delay or refuse vaccines.
  • People injured by a COVID-19 vaccine have little recourse. Vaccine manufactures and providers are shielded from liability through the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act, or PREP Act. This federal law establishes that the only option for compensation for COVID-19 vaccine victims is the Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program (CICP). Only eight percent of all petitioners since 2010 have been awarded compensation through the CICP. No legal or medical expert fees are covered, no pain and suffering is awarded, lost wages are capped at $50,000, and there is no judicial appeal. Vaccination must be voluntary.
  • Governor Greg Abbott’s  Executive Order GA 35 falls short at meaningful protection against COVID-19 vaccine mandates because it does not prohibit employers or businesses not funded by the government from requiring vaccines and it allows the government and businesses to require vaccines once the Emergency Use Authorization goes away when the vaccines are fully licensed by the FDA. Moderna, the manufacture of one of the 3 available COVID-19 vaccines, is already seeking full FDA approval, and Pfizer, one of the other manufacturers, announced it would seek full approval in the first half of 2021.
  • One bill filed and moving, SB 968, limits the use of vaccine passports by businesses and government, but it does not prevent forced COVID-19 vaccination from the government or prohibit employer vaccine requirements. Also, the bill still let’s your decision to not be vaccinated get shared by government with any third party if it is health care related. The immunization registry in Texas which all health care providers have access to, records all COVID-19 vaccines administered with no consent, and if you are not in there, it means you have not been vaccinated for COVID-19. This could lead to discrimination and denial of care from the health care industry. 

 VIDEO OF THE HEARING

Senator Hall Lays Out SB 1669 and Invited Doctor Testimony on 5/6/2021 in the Texas Senate State Affairs Committee (video link) (47 minutes).

Public testimony was taken in the afternoon (video link), for testimony of Dawn Richardson, NVIC Director of Advocacy (scroll to 29 minutes out of 4.5 hours)

See article in Vaccine Impact News for more coverage: No Vaccine Passports in Texas! Medical Doctors Testify Before State Senate to Oppose Mandatory COVID Shots

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UPDATE 5/14/2021

HELP STOP FORCED COVID-19 VACCINES NOW IN TEXAS

Contact your Texas Senate State Affairs Committee and State Legislators to Demand No Forced COVID-19 Vaccination, No Vaccine Passports, No Exceptions - Support Committee Substitute to SB 1669

Dear Texas NVIC Advocacy Team Members,

Please stop everything you are doing and take the time to phone, email, fax and visit members of the Texas Senate State Affairs Committee and ask them to vote yes on the committee substitute for SB 1669. Time is running out for this session and the legislature doesn’t meet for another 2 years!  Please get as many people as you can to do the same!

We had a historic hearing on SB 1669, the bill to prohibit forced vaccination and discrimination and segregation in all areas of your life over your vaccination status last week.  Thank you to all who came out and testified, registered, and supported.  There are some links below for you to watch the amazing testimony if you were not there. Senator Hall did an amazing job in the hearing talking about why this bill is critically needed.

While we would have liked to pass the filed bill out of committee, acknowledging that time left this session is short, Senator Hall offered a committee a substitute to the bill on Monday making it apply to only COVID-19 vaccines and future experimental vaccines that are not fully FDA approved.  This substitute is responsive to most objections offered in the hearing and it covers the most prevalent and likely immediate threat we are facing in Texas, forced COVID-19 Vaccination or discrimination and segregation over COVID-19 vaccine or immunity status.

On Thursday, 4 days after the committee substitute was presented, the president of the Texas Medical Association launched a misinformation and distraction advocacy campaign aimed at funneling opposition to Senate State Affairs Committee members against SB 1669 as if it were the filed version of the bill.  It is clear that TMA is pushing for forced vaccinations.

We are close to passing our substitute bill out of committee and just need a couple more Senators who are on the fence in the committee to be supportive.. They need to be told the bill is only for COVID-19 vaccines and the damage to Texas families is real unless they take action.  We need your help to get the message to them loud and clear on why this is important to your family. 

ACTION NEEDED:

  1. Visit, Call and Email Members of the Senate State Affairs Committee and ask them to pass the committee substitute for SB 1669. Tell them you want No Forced COVID-19 Vaccination, No Vaccine Passports, No Exceptions! The governor’s executive order falls short and does not protect you. This bill deserves a floor discussion. (see talking points and committee contact information below)
  2. Contact your own Texas State Senator and State Representative and tell them you want No Forced COVID-19 Vaccination, No Vaccine Passports, No Exceptions! Ask them to pass meaningful protections like those in the committee substitute for SB 1669.
    If you do not know who your Texas State Representative is, or their contact information, you can login to the NVIC Advocacy Portal, click on the “State Teams” tab and then “My State,” and your elected officials are automatically posted on the right-hand side of the page http://NVICAdvocacy.org  or you can click here and enter your address in the box that says “Who Represents Me”. (see talking points below)
  3. Contact Legislative Leadership and tell them No Forced COVID-19 Vaccination, No Vaccine Passports, No Exceptions! Let them know there currently is no legislative protection from forced COVID-19 vaccines and we need them to help to support and move protection like offered in the committee substitute for SB 1669 now.
    Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick,     phone (512) 463-0001, FAX (512) 463-8668, [email protected]
    House Speaker Dade Phelan    , phone (512) 463-1000, [email protected]
    Governor Greg Abbott    , phone (512) 463-2000 from 9am-5pm and web contact form
  4. Register and login to the NVIC Advocacy Portal OFTEN to check for updates.  http://NVICAdvocacy.org. We review bills and make updates daily. Bills can change many times over the legislative process and your timely visits, calls, and emails directed at the correct legislators are critical to this process.
  5. Please forward this action alert to family and friends and ask them to register for the NVIC Advocacy Portal at http://NVICAdvocacy.org and share their concerns with their legislators as well. To share on social media, copy and paste this link: https://nvicadvocacy.org/members/Resources/NewsletterArchives/SupportTXSB1669NoForcedVaccines.aspx 
  6. Sign up to get NVIC’s Texas “Heads Up” text alerts by texting “Texas” to 202-618-5488. 

TALKING POINTS (It is important to also personalize your own reasons why you and your family want this bill/language to pass). 

  • SUPPORT The Committee Substitute for SB 1669 by Senator Bob Hall. 
  • The committee substitute for SB 1669 prohibits discrimination or segregation based on COVID-19 vaccination or immune status.
  • This needs to be addressed by legislators now otherwise law abiding healthy citizens will lose their jobs or be segregated and discriminated against for not taking a COVID-19 vaccine. 
  • Special interests are misleading about what this bill does by not acknowledging the committee substitute and they are promoting forced vaccination.  Legislators need to put Texans first and stand up to special interests that profit from forced vaccination.   
  • Because of COVID-19, we have seen travel restrictions, employment discrimination, and right of access to public venues over masking and testing, and it has started over vaccination.
  • Nobody is saying reasonable precautions shouldn't be taken, but it crosses the line when healthy law-abiding citizens are excluded from day-to-day life for declining to take a COVID-19 vaccine.
  • Nothing is stopping people from getting vaccinated with COVID-19 vaccines.  What we are saying is they shouldn’t be stopped from living a normal life for not taking one.
  • Recent surveys of hospital staff, healthcare workers, essential workers, nursing home staff, and long term care employees report responses in range from 20-60% saying they would not take a COVID-19 vaccine.  Even workers in healthcare want choices. In the absence of protective state laws, there are no state or federal employee protection exceptions to employee vaccine mandates for COVID-19 vaccines.
  • New COVID-19 vaccine mandates could have devastating impacts on the Texas economy as critical employees and customers who don't want to take a vaccine are turned away from tourism, travel, healthcare and long-term care, emergency services, sport events, insurance, child care, education and their employment.
  • Once the COVID-19 vaccines are fully licensed, many businesses concerned about being sued over not mandating the vaccine will enact condition of employment mandates.  Proactive action by the state to prohibit employer mandates not only protects employees, but provides a degree of liability protection to all businesses. If mandates are not a legal option to implement, employers can’t be sued for not mandating the vaccine. Conversely now, Texas employees are suing employers for mandating the vaccine.
  • Medical trade associations like the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Medical Association have been actively lobbying to force vaccination by removing vaccine exemptions. Texas doctors are refusing care to children whose families don’t agree with every vaccine.
  • Vaccine passports in other areas of the country are threatening right of access to public venues.  New York has already announced their vaccine passport, called the “Excelsior Pass” in order to gain entry into events and businesses.
  • As of 5/7/21, there have already been 192,954 COVID-19 Vaccine adverse events and 4,057COVID-19 Vaccine deaths reported to the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System. Some short-term and all long-term risks of new COVID-19 vaccines are still unknown. When there is risk, there has to be informed consent and the right to refuse a vaccine without penalty. 
  • The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission affirms the legal right of an employer to exclude the employee from the workplace even if an employee cannot get vaccinated for COVID-19 because of a disability or sincerely held religious belief and there is no reasonable accommodation possible. The state will have to step in and protect employees’ right to delay or refuse vaccines.
  • People injured by a COVID-19 vaccine have little recourse. Vaccine manufactures and providers are shielded from liability through the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act, or PREP Act. This federal law establishes that the only option for compensation for COVID-19 vaccine victims is the Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program (CICP). Only eight percent of all petitioners since 2010 have been awarded compensation through the CICP. No legal or medical expert fees are covered, no pain and suffering is awarded, lost wages are capped at $50,000, and there is no judicial appeal. Vaccination must be voluntary.
  • Governor Greg Abbott’s  Executive Order GA 35 falls short at meaningful protection against COVID-19 vaccine mandates because it does not prohibit employers or businesses not funded by the government from requiring vaccines and it allows the government and businesses to require vaccines once the Emergency Use Authorization goes away when the vaccines are fully licensed by the FDA. Moderna, the manufacture of one of the 3 available COVID-19 vaccines, is already seeking full FDA approval, and Pfizer, one of the other manufacturers, announced it would seek full approval in the first half of 2021.
  • One bill filed and moving, SB 968, limits the use of vaccine passports by businesses and government, but it does not prevent forced COVID-19 vaccination from the government or prohibit employer vaccine requirements. Also, the bill still let’s your decision to not be vaccinated get shared by government with any third party if it is health care related. The immunization registry in Texas which all health care providers have access to, records all COVID-19 vaccines administered with no consent, and if you are not in there, it means you have not been vaccinated for COVID-19. This could lead to discrimination and denial of care from the health care industry. 

 

LEGISLATIVE CONTACT INFORMATION

Please visit, call, email and fax the following Senate members of the Senate State Affairs to ask them to pass the committee substitute of SB 1669 out of committee so it can have a full floor debate on the problems being caused by forced and coerced COVID-19 vaccines.  

Bryan Hughes, PHONE (512) 463-0101, FAX (512) 475-3751, Room CAP 3E.8

Brian Birdwell, PHONE (512) 463-0122, FAX (512) 475-3729, Room EXT E1.804

Donna Campbell, PHONE (512) 463-0125, FAX (512) 463-7794, Room CAP 3E.8

Eddie Lucio, Jr., PHONE (512) 463-0127, FAX (512) 463-0061, Room CAP 3S.5

Jane Nelson, PHONE (512) 463-0112, FAX (512) 463-0923, Room CAP 1E.5

Beverly Powell, PHONE (512) 463-0110, FAX (512) 475-3745, Room EXT E1.708

Charles Schwertner, PHONE (512) 463-0105, FAX (512) 463-5713, Room CAP 3E.10

Judith Zaffirini, PHONE (512) 463-0121, FAX (512) 475-3738, ROOM CAP 1E.14

EMAIL:

[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

VIDEO OF THE HEARING

Senator Hall Lays Out SB 1669 and Invited Doctor Testimony on 5/6/2021 in the Texas Senate State Affairs Committee (video link) (47 minutes).

Public testimony was taken in the afternoon (video link), for testimony of Dawn Richardson, NVIC Director of Advocacy (scroll to 29 minutes out of 4.5 hours)

See article in Vaccine Impact News for more coverage: No Vaccine Passports in Texas! Medical Doctors Testify Before State Senate to Oppose Mandatory COVID Shots

 

Sincerely,

NVIC Advocacy Team
National Vaccine Information Center
http://NVIC.org and http://NVICAdvocacy.org
https://nvicadvocacy.org/members/Members/ContactUs.aspx

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URGENT UPDATE 5/5/2021

WE HAVE A HEARING THURSDAY May 6th on SB 1669 THANKS TO YOU CONTACTING YOUR LEGISLATORS!

DROP EVERYTHING TO BE IN AUSTIN – this may be your only chance to testify this session to protect your family from FORCED VACCINATION as session is winding down!

TEXANS AT RISK FOR FORCED COVID-19 VACCINATIONS

If you live anywhere in Texas and you don’t want to be forcibly vaccinated or discriminated against for not taking a vaccine, including the COVID-19 vaccine, or don’t want to be required to show a vaccine passport for living a normal life, you need to be in Austin at the State Capitol Thursday morning May 6th to support SB 1669! 

SB 1669 prohibits discrimination or segregation based on vaccination or immune status and prohibits forced vaccination in all areas of your life!

There has never been a time in our history that has been more important for people to speak out to protect your right to informed consent to vaccination without discrimination or penalty for not taking a vaccine. Law abiding Citizens should have the right to choose to take a vaccine or not, and not have to disclose private health information to live their lives normally.

SB 1669 is scheduled for a public hearing in the Senate State Affairs Committee on Thursday May 6, 2021 at 9:00 am in Hearing Room E1.028.  WE NEED YOU HERE! This is in the Capitol Extension building, and a map is available here: Texas Capitol Visitor Guide.  Parking is available at the Texas Capitol Parking Garage or on the street on meters.  You should arrive at least one hour early.

There are 4 ways you can support this bill in order of importance:

  1. Plan on giving oral testimony in favor of SB 1669.  Testimony is limited to 2 minutes. Write out your testimony and practice it in front of a mirror to make sure you are comfortable with it and it is no more than 2 minutes. Your testimony should be in the following format: 1) introduce yourself and who you represent 2) thank the committee for the opportunity to testify 3) state your position on the bill 4) explain why this bill is important to you and your family and give a couple of talking points to support this including if you or family members have reacted to vaccines or have concern over being forced to take a COVID-19 vaccine for your job or anything else 5) ask for the committee to support the bill and say thank you. It is important to be respectful and polite at all times and to dress professionally. Appearances matter!  If in your job you have been discriminated against or are concerned your employment is jeopardized by not taking a vaccine, you need to be here to testify in person!
  2. Submit Written Testimony in favor of SB 1669.  Bring 20 copies, and you can submit them to the clerk at the beginning of the hearing.  Your written testimony can follow the same format as oral testimony.
  3. Show up at the capitol and register support for the bill on the Kiosk outside of the hearing room. Do this only if you can’t stay and give oral testimony or enter the hearing room and submit written testimony.  This will make your support a part of the public record.  You don’t need a COVID-19 test to do this.
  4. If you cannot come in person, then contact the committee members and your State Senator and Representative to ask for their support of SB 1669.  Please see original alert below for talking points and contact information.

Be at the Texas State Capitol at least an hour early to allow for screening and registering at the Kiosks in the Capitol Extension Building.  While there are no mask mandates to enter the Capitol building, people who will be in the hearing room will need to go to the tent on the North Side of the Capitol to have a rapid COVID-19 screening test to get a wristband showing your negative status in order to be allowed in. This is an anonymous test and you do it yourself just in the inside edge of your nostril, not deep.

Find a computer Kiosk outside of hearing room E1.028 and you need to register that you are there to testify, you will have to indicate if you are giving oral, written or just registering a position without testifying.

Parking is available at the Texas Capitol Parking Garage or on the street on meters.

Thank you and looking forward to meeting you Thursday! 

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TEXANS ARE AT RISK FOR FORCED VACCINATION WITH COVID-19 VACCINES

Governor Greg Abbott’s Executive Order Prohibiting Vaccine Passports Falls Short

Show up at the Texas Capitol on Thursday 5/6/2021 to testify in favor of or register support for SB 1669 in the Senate State Affairs Committee in room E1.028 at 9:00 am.  Arrive 1 hour early for screening and registration.

SB 1669 prohibits discrimination or segregation based on vaccination or immune status and prohibits forced vaccination in all areas of your life!

No Forced Vaccination, No Vaccine Passports, No Exceptions! 

For more information:

https://nvicadvocacy.org/members/Resources/NewsletterArchives/SupportTXSB1669NoForcedVaccines.aspx

TEXANS AT RISK FOR FORCED COVID-19 VACCINATIONS

Contact your Texas State Legislators and Demand No Forced Vaccination, No Vaccine Passports, No Exceptions - Support SB 1669

April 30, 2021

By Dawn Richardson, NVIC Director of Advocacy

Mandated vaccination in Texas with COVID-19 vaccines will be the reality unless the legislature takes decisive action now.  In fact, it has already started happening.

Houston Methodist Hospital has told its 26,000 employees to get vaccinated by June 7th or get fired. Atria Senior Living, which has 16 facilities in Texas, is requiring all employees to receive 2 COVID-19 vaccines by May 1, 2021 as a condition of employment or face termination.

The city of Farmer’s Branch, Texas is requiring COVID-19 vaccination to access the city run facility called The Branch Connection. Forget taking a cruise with Royal Caribbean from Texas unless you’ve been COVID-19 vaccinated. St. Edwards University in Austin became one of the first colleges to mandate COVID-19 vaccines.

This is just the beginning.

Governor Abbott’s Executive Order Prohibiting COVID-19 Vaccine Passports Falls Short at Protection

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has been quoted saying that in Texas, COVID-19 vaccines “are always voluntary and never forced.”

The truth is Executive Order GA 35 falls short at preserving the right of law-abiding Texas citizens to be able to function normally in society without having to show proof of a COVID-19 vaccination.

EO GA 35 only prohibits the government, or public or private entities funded by the government, from requiring documentation of an individual’s COVID-19 vaccination status. This does nothing to prohibit businesses not receiving government funding from banning customers who don’t have a COVID-19 vaccine. Also, this executive order fails to give any protection to employees whose employers are requiring COVID-19 vaccination as a condition of employment.  

In addition, the limited protections offered in EO GA 35 will be short lived because the order only applies to “Emergency Use Authorization” (EUA) COVID-19 vaccines.  Once a vaccine has received full FDA approval, the EUA designation no longer applies and therefore neither will any protection in this executive order including the ban on forced vaccination by the government. Full FDA approval will be soon. Moderna, the manufacture of one of the 3 available COVID-19 vaccines, is already seeking full FDA approval, and Pfizer, one of the other manufacturers, announced it would seek full approval in the first half of 2021.

Governor Abbott’s executive order also falls short when compared to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s executive order banning vaccines passports which additionally prohibits all business from requiring COVID-19 vaccination status or post infection recovery status to gain access to or service from the business, and it applies to all COVID-19 vaccines instead of expiring after full FDA approval is achieved. It also protects personal privacy rights by prohibiting the government from publishing or sharing a person’s COVID-19 vaccination status to third parties.

Texans Need a Law Passed to Protect them From Forced Vaccination and Vaccine Passports (If you want to immediately see what you can do to help pass SB 1669 into law in Texas scroll down to “Action Needed)”

We are grateful to announce that Texas history has been made with the filing of
SB 1669 in the Texas Legislature by Senator Bob Hall.

SB 1669 prohibits discrimination or segregation based on vaccination or immune status and prohibits forced vaccination in all areas of your life.

We need your help getting SB 1669 moving as the bill is currently stalled awaiting a hearing in the Senate State Affairs Committee. Legislators need to be educated about the shortcomings in Governor Abbott’s executive order and the vulnerabilities for mandated vaccination in Texas based on current law so they can pass this bill or amend parts of it onto other bills.

This is by far the most comprehensive bill prohibiting mandated vaccination in all areas that could affect your life including government orders, employment, healthcare, education, access to businesses, access to events and venues like sports and concerts, long-term care, nursing homes, insurance, and childcare. Scroll down to see a detailed bill description.  

ACTION NEEDED:

1)    Visit, Call and Email Members of the Senate State Affairs Committee and ask them to schedule SB 1669 for a hearing and support the bill. Tell them you want No Forced Vaccination, No Vaccine Passports, No Exceptions! The governor’s executive order falls short and does not protect you. This bill deserves a hearing. (see talking points and committee contact information below)

2)    Contact your own Texas State Senator and State Representative and tell them to support SB 1669 because you want No Forced Vaccination, No Vaccine Passports, No Exceptions!
If you do not know who your Texas State Representative is, or their contact information, you can login to the NVIC Advocacy Portal, click on the “State Teams” tab and then “My State,” and your elected officials are automatically posted on the right-hand side of the page http://NVICAdvocacy.org  or you can click here and enter your address in the box that says “Who Represents Me”. (see talking points below)

3)    Register and login to the NVIC Advocacy Portal OFTEN to check for updates.  http://NVICAdvocacy.org. We review bills and make updates daily. Bills can change many times over the legislative process and your timely visits, calls, and emails directed at the correct legislators are critical to this process.

4)    Please forward this action alert to family and friends and ask them to register for the NVIC Advocacy Portal at http://NVICAdvocacy.org and share their concerns with their legislators as well. To share on social media, copy and paste this link: https://nvicadvocacy.org/members/Resources/NewsletterArchives/SupportTXSB1669NoForcedVaccines.aspx 

5)    Sign up to get NVIC’s Texas “Heads Up” text alerts by texting “Texas” to 202-618-5488. 

TALKING POINTS (It is important to also personalize your own reasons why you and your family want this bill/language to pass).  

SUPPORT SB 1669 by Senator Bob Hall. 

·      SB 1669 prohibits discrimination or segregation based on vaccination or immune status and prohibits forced vaccination in all areas of your life.

·         Because of COVID-19, we have seen travel restrictions, employment discrimination, and right of access to public venues over masking and testing, and it has started over vaccination.

o   Houston Methodist Hospital has told its 26,000 employees to get vaccinated by June 7th or get fired.

o   Atria Senior Living, which has 16 facilities in Texas, is requiring all employees to receive 2 COVID-19 vaccines by May 1, 2021 as a condition of employment or face termination.

o   The city of Farmer’s Branch, Texas is requiring COVID-19 vaccination to access the city run facility called The Branch Connection.

o   Forget taking a cruise with Royal Caribbean from Texas unless you’ve been COVID-19 vaccinated.

o   St. Edwards University in Austin became one of the first colleges to mandate COVID-19 vaccines.

·         Nobody is saying reasonable precautions shouldn't be taken, but it crosses the line when healthy law-abiding citizens are excluded from day-to-day life for declining to take a vaccine.

·         Nothing is stopping people from getting vaccinated.  What we are saying is they shouldn’t be stopped from living a normal life for not taking one.

·         Recent surveys of hospital staff, healthcare workers, essential workers, nursing home staff, and long term care employees report responses in range from 20-60% saying they would not take a COVID-19 vaccine.  Even workers in healthcare want choices. In the absence of protective state laws, there are no state or federal employee protection exceptions to employee vaccine mandates for COVID-19 vaccines.

·         New vaccine mandates could have devastating impacts on the Texas economy as critical employees and customers who don't want to take a vaccine are turned away from tourism, travel, healthcare and long-term care, emergency services, sport events, insurance, child care, education and their employment.

·         Once the COVID-19 vaccines are fully licensed, many businesses concerned about being sued over not mandating the vaccine will enact condition of employment mandates.  Proactive action by the state to prohibit employer mandates not only protects employees, but provides a degree of liability protection to all businesses. If mandates are not a legal option to implement, employers can’t be sued for not mandating the vaccine. Conversely now, Texas employees are suing employers for mandating the vaccine.

·         Medical trade associations like the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Medical Association have been actively lobbying to force vaccination by removing vaccine exemptions. Texas doctors are refusing care to children whose families don’t agree with every vaccine.

·         Vaccine passports in other areas of the country are threatening right of access to public venues.  New York has already announced their vaccine passport, called the “Excelsior Pass” in order to gain entry into events and businesses.

·         As of 4/16/21, there have already been 86,080 COVID-19 Vaccine adverse events and 3,186 COVID-19 Vaccine deaths reported to the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System. Some short-term and all long-term risks of new COVID-19 vaccines are still unknown. When there is risk, there has to be informed consent and the right to refuse a vaccine without penalty. 

·         The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission affirms the legal right of an employer to exclude the employee from the workplace even if an employee cannot get vaccinated for COVID-19 because of a disability or sincerely held religious belief and there is no reasonable accommodation possible. The state will have to step in and protect employees’ right to delay or refuse vaccines.

·         While the U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) allows employees to decline Hepatitis B Vaccines, and OSHA and many labor unions have expressed opposition to annual influenza vaccination policies that do not include religious and/or personal objection exemptions, there are far too many gaps in protection for employees to refuse vaccines for work.

·         People injured by a COVID-19 vaccine have little recourse. Vaccine manufactures and providers are shielded from liability through the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act, or PREP Act. This federal law establishes that the only option for compensation for COVID-19 vaccine victims is the Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program (CICP). Only eight percent of all petitioners since 2010 have been awarded compensation through the CICP. No legal or medical expert fees are covered, no pain and suffering is awarded, lost wages are capped at $50,000, and there is no judicial appeal. Vaccination must be voluntary.

·         Governor Greg Abbott’s  Executive Order GA 35 falls short at meaningful protection because it does not prohibit employers or businesses not funded by the government from requiring vaccines and it allows the government and businesses to require vaccines once the Emergency Use Authorization goes away when the vaccines are fully licensed by the FDA. Moderna, the manufacture of one of the 3 available COVID-19 vaccines, is already seeking full FDA approval, and Pfizer, one of the other manufacturers, announced it would seek full approval in the first half of 2021.

·         One bill filed and moving, SB 968, limits the use of vaccine passports by businesses and government, but it does not prevent forced COVID-19 vaccination from the government or prohibit employer vaccine requirements. Also, the bill still let’s your decision to not be vaccinated get shared by government with any third party if it is health care related. The immunization registry in Texas which all health care providers have access to, records all COVID-19 vaccines administered with no consent, and if you are not in there, it means you have not been vaccinated. This could lead to discrimination and denial of care from the health care industry. 

LEGISLATIVE CONTACT INFORMATION

Please visit, call and email the following Senate members of the Senate State Affairs to ask them to set SB 1669 for a hearing and support it.  

Bryan Hughes, PHONE (512) 463-0101, FAX (512) 475-3751, Room CAP 3E.8

Brian Birdwell, PHONE (512) 463-0122, FAX (512) 475-3729, Room EXT E1.804

Donna Campbell, PHONE (512) 463-0125, FAX (512) 463-7794, Room CAP 3E.8

* Bob Hall, PHONE (512) 463-0102, FAX (512) 463-7202, Room EXT E1.610

Eddie Lucio, Jr., PHONE (512) 463-0127, FAX (512) 463-0061, Room CAP 3S.5

Jane Nelson, PHONE (512) 463-0112, FAX (512) 463-0923, Room CAP 1E.5

Beverly Powell, PHONE (512) 463-0110, FAX (512) 475-3745, Room EXT E1.708

Charles Schwertner, PHONE (512) 463-0105, FAX (512) 463-5713, Room CAP 3E.10

Judith Zaffirini, PHONE (512) 463-0121, FAX (512) 475-3738, ROOM CAP 1E.14

EMAIL:

[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

MAILING ADDRESS:

Senator’s name, P.O. Box 12068, Capitol Station, Austin, TX 78711

* Senator Bob Hall filed SB 1669, so in addition to your personal reasons that you share to support passing this bill, please thank him!

SB 1669 BILL DESCRIPTION

SB 1669 prohibits a person from discriminating against or refusing a public accommodation to an individual based on vaccination or immunity status.  A "person" is legally defined as an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, limited liability company, association, joint venture, government, governmental subdivision, agency, or instrumentality, public corporation, any other legal or commercial entity, or a particular series of a for-profit entity.”

SB 1669 specifically prohibits health care facilities and providers, long term care facilities, group health benefits plans, life insurance companies, employers, labor organizations, employment agencies, licensing authorities, and educational institutions from denying or negatively affecting services based on vaccination or immunity status. Vaccination or immunity status of individuals covered by insurance plans may not be used as a factor in rating a plan or discriminating against a health care provider.

SB 1669 also prohibits vaccine mandates and forced vaccination by schools and government. This includes prohibiting government entities, the governor, a state agency, a political subdivision, or a political subdivision official from requiring individuals be vaccinated or forcing individuals to administer vaccines and discriminating against or posing a civil or criminal penalty against such individuals. This prohibition applies to all laws, agency rules, and executive or emergency orders.

SB 1669 removes immunizations from legally enforceable control measures. Existing employee vaccine requirement policies for health care and day care facilities are removed. Parental consent is required for all recommended childhood vaccines. 

SB 1669 prohibits vaccination or immunity status from being used for issuance of a driver’s license, voter id, or personal id by the state, and the transportation department is prohibited from penalizing, discriminating against, or denying services or access to anyone for not providing proof of vaccination or immunity status.