Republicans Try New Tactics To Push Back Against Vaccine Mandates

The Hill: GOP Leaders Escalate Battle Against COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates
GOP officials in states including Florida, Alabama and Arizona took steps to push back on the looming requirement for businesses with more than 100 employees to require workers to be vaccinated or tested regularly. Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), who is considered a potential 2024 presidential candidate, on Thursday requested a special session of the state legislature focused on combating the mandates after previously floating plans to sue the administration.  (Coleman, 10/23)

The Hill: DeSantis Eyes $5,000 Bonus For Unvaccinated Police To Relocate To Florida
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said Sunday that he is looking to enact legislation that will provide a $5,000 bonus to police officers to relocate to Florida, where they can avoid vaccine mandates. DeSantis told host Maria Bartitomo on Fox News’s “Sunday Morning Futures” that Florida is “actively working” to recruit law enforcement officers from other states who are being fired for not getting the COVID-19 vaccine. (Schnell, 10/24)

USA Today: Florida's Top Health Official Refused To Wear A Mask During Meeting
Florida's top health official was asked to leave a meeting after refusing to wear a mask at the office of a state senator who had cancer. Tina Polsky, a Florida senator, recently received a breast cancer diagnosis and asked state surgeon general Joseph Ladapo to wear a mask when he arrived for a Wednesday meeting. He refused to wear one. Ladapo had asked to meet with Polsky as he seeks confirmation in the Senate after being named to the post by Gov. Ron DeSantis last month. DeSantis has been steadfast in his opposition to COVID-19 vaccination mandates, calling them unfair and discriminatory. (Tebor, 10/25)

Houston Chronicle: AG Paxton Vows To Sue The Feds For Any State Agency Defying Biden Vaccine Mandate
As President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate for federal contractors took effect, Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton told state agencies he’d gladly sue the federal government if they choose to instead follow Gov. Greg Abbott’s order blocking such requirements. He also warned the agencies that “any violation of state law may expose your agency and its principals to liability.” “We will support any agency that follows state law and seeks to resist the repressive funding conditions being unlawfully imposed by President Biden,” Paxton wrote to Texas state agencies in an Oct. 15 letter obtained by Hearst Newspapers. (Goldenstein, 10/25)

Dallas Morning News: More Than Half Of Dallas’ City Employees Have Gotten COVID-19 Vaccines
More than half of Dallas’ city employees have reported being vaccinated against COVID-19 since an incentive was announced in late August giving workers extra vacation days if they got the shot. Over 7,500 workers have provided proof of their vaccination status as of Oct. 1, said Kim Bizor Tolbert, the city manager’s chief of staff. The city has more than 12,900 employees, she said Friday, and officials believe reported vaccination numbers will exceed 70% by the time the incentive ends after Oct. 31. “Within the first 30 days, we had over 6,200,” Bizor Tolbert said Friday during a virtual meeting with The Dallas Morning News’ editorial board. “We’re tracking right now close to 8,000.” (Bailey Jr., 10/25)

The Texas Tribune: Texas Universities Stuck Over Conflicting COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates
Many Texas universities — which collectively hold billions of dollars in federal contracts — are wrestling with how to navigate the Biden administration’s mandate that all federal contractors be vaccinated by Dec. 8 in a state that bans vaccine mandates. Several public universities — all managed by Gov. Greg Abbott appointees — told The Texas Tribune they are still evaluating the executive order, which applies to new federal contracts of $250,000 or greater and awarded as of Nov. 14 or existing contracts that have been renewed as of Oct. 15. (McGee, 10/25)

In other news about covid mandates —

NPR: Thousands Of Workers Are Getting Fired For Refusing The Vaccine
Employers are firing workers for refusing to comply with vaccine mandates. They represent only a tiny fraction of overall employees, not even 1% in some workplaces. But it can add up to thousands. (Hsu, 10/24)

The New York Times: Their Jobs Made Them Get Vaccinated. They Refused. 
Under the threat of losing their jobs, hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers finally got a Covid-19 vaccine. Teachers, nurses and home health aides accepted their occupations’ mandates. The mass resignations some experts had predicted did not occur, as most workers hurriedly got inoculated. Josephine Valdez, 30, a public school paraprofessional from the Bronx, did not. (Nir, 10/24)

San Francisco Chronicle: California Rejected 6% Of Medical Exemptions For School Vaccinations This Year, In Hint Of Fight Ahead
As California moves toward requiring all students to be inoculated against COVID-19, state officials have revoked more than 180 medical exemptions granted to families for other required school vaccinations since the start of the year. The revocations, which reflect a tension that may grow in coming years, came under a new law that seeks to crack down on suspected abuse in the process for forgoing the immunizations that every California student must get. The California Department of Public Health told The Chronicle that as of early October, it had revoked 182 medical exemptions through a new administrative review process because they did not meet federal guidelines for immunization practices — representing nearly 6% of the 3,136 exemption requests the department had reviewed. (Koseff, 10/24)

KHN: In Maine, Vaccine Mandate For EMTs Stresses Small-Town Ambulance Crews 
On a recent morning, Jerrad Dinsmore and Kevin LeCaptain of Waldoboro EMS in rural Maine drove their ambulance to a secluded house near the ocean, to measure the clotting levels of a woman in her 90s. They told the woman, bundled under blankets to keep warm, they would contact her doctor with the result. “Is there anything else we can do?” Dinsmore asked. “No,” she said. “I’m all set.” This wellness check, which took about 10 minutes, is one of the duties Dinsmore and LeCaptain perform in addition to the emergency calls they respond to as staffers with Waldoboro Emergency Medical Service. (Wight, 10/25)

The Washington Post: Pro-Kyrie Irving, Anti-Vaccine-Mandate Protesters Demonstrate Before Nets Game 
A group of anti-vaccine-mandate protesters demonstrated Sunday afternoon at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center in support of Nets guard Kyrie Irving, who has been told by the team to stay away as long as he refuses to receive a coronavirus vaccination. The incident occurred before the Nets’ home opener against the Charlotte Hornets. At one point, a number of demonstrators pushed through a row of metal barricades and rushed to an arena entrance. According to an arena spokesperson, none managed to enter the arena. (Bieler, 10/24)