Big Spring, Texas, a city of 30,000 people, has become a sanctuary for pro-vaccine choice Texans.
In a new executive order, Big Spring Mayor Shannon Thomason established a fine of $500 for city agencies and businesses within the city limits that don’t lift their current vaccine requirements.
According to Griffin White of Texas Scorecard, this new order also establishes a $2,000 fine for businesses that willfully enact vaccine requirements from here on out.
Additionally, Thomason’s order blames the CDC for politicizing science and not taking the health of citizens into account:
“The United States Center for Disease Control recently changed their definition of “vaccination” from “the act of introducing a vaccine into the body to produce immunity to a specific disease” to “the act of introducing a vaccine into the body to produce protection to a specific disease.” This change in definition by the CDC was not based on science, but was a response to political pressure.”
Thomason’s order focuses more on individual freedoms and Texans’ ability to exercise medical autonomy:
“The City of Big Spring encourages all of its citizens to make informed decisions regarding their personal health, and encourages everyone to be vaccinated for COVID-19, if they so choose. However, the City will also continue to stand for and protect the rights of those who choose not to.”
“When big government forgets about the rights of the people, it falls to local governments to take a stand,” Thomason told Texas Scorecard in a statement.
In his executive order, Thomason alluded to Governor Greg Abbott’s previous executive order, which imposes a $1,000 fine on businesses that mandate vaccines.
So far, a significant number of businesses have ignored Abbott’s executive order.
Big Spring’s executive order can be read here.