AUSTIN — A Texas Senate committee wants the state to ban mask and COVID-19 vaccine mandates, a sign pandemic policy may become a flashpoint in the upcoming legislative session. The Republican-led Senate Health and Human Services Committee included the coronavirus recommendations in a newly released 37-page report.
While a majority of committee members endorsed the document, including two doctors who are both Republicans, three senators called the policy ideas shortsighted and refused to sign on. The division on the committee highlights ongoing tension over public health measures sparked during the pandemic. While not a piece of legislation, the document signals the priorities of the Senate committee, which vets all bills dealing with health and human services.
It remains to be seen whether the GOP-dominated Legislature will welcome the recommendations, which face pushback from public health experts. State leaders have not named pandemic policy a priority ahead of the session, which begins Jan. 10. More than 90,000 Texans have died from COVID-19, though fatalities have fallen off sharply since the beginning of the year, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services.