With full FDA approval, it’s time for Texas schools, businesses to demand vaccinations

After nine months and hundreds of millions of doses, the federal government’s declaration Monday that the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine has full formal approval seems anticlimactic.

But it’s not. It’s a huge development that will allow for a stepped-up campaign to sway the unvaccinated. And all Texas institutions have a role to play in it.

It’s time for local governments to require vaccines for front-line workers such as police and EMTs. Schools should make vaccination a condition of employment. Health care institutions should enforce a vaccine rule for employees. Colleges should do the same for workers and students.

And private companies should consider whether they want to make vaccination necessary for employees and patrons, though they should remain free to make their own decisions, either way, without government interference.

There should be exemptions, of course, for well-established religious objections and medical conditions that prohibit vaccination. But this is the time to send the clear message that, as with childhood vaccinations we routinely require, the COVID-19 vaccine is safe, effective and necessary to defeat the pandemic.

That may seem like overreach based on the Food and Drug Administration’s decision. But a little-noticed provision of Gov. Greg Abbott’s latest executive order on COVID, so restrictive of local governments and schools in many ways, makes clear that any ban on a vaccine requirement applies to shots “administered under an emergency use authorization.” The phrase is included in almost every mention of the vaccines.

That condition no longer applies to the Pfizer regiment for anyone 16 or older, and Moderna’s version can’t be far behind. Let’s be clear on what that means: The FDA has determined that the vaccine has satisfied rigorous testing and found to be effective far beyond any level of risk it may pose. It’s the same level of approval as every other available drug and vaccine.

The lack of regular authorization has been a sticking point many have cited in their desire to wait on getting a shot. Some undoubtedly will find another excuse. But the word about the vaccines’ effectiveness and safety must be spread far and wide.

Schools have been the subject of most of the rancor on COVID lately, as local districts debate whether to try to have mask mandates in defiance of Abbott. Leaning heavily on vaccinations is the better bet. Children can’t yet be vaccinated, but they remain at low risk of serious cases. Vaccines will almost entirely mitigate the risk to teachers, administrators and other staff.

Some companies will choose to require vaccination, and many won’t. It needs to remain a private decision.

But that has to flow both ways. Under a new state law, the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission has warned restaurants and bars that their liquor licenses could be in jeopardy if the required proof of vaccination. That’s the kind of state coercion upon business that Texas Republicans used to frown upon, but many now celebrate. An affected company or business group should sue over the law.

The debate of how hard to push the vaccine will continue. Some will use the full approval as justification for broad requirements, even at the federal or state levels. No government mandate is appropriate, neither on individuals nor the backdoor method of forcing businesses to require it.

But neither should government try to halt vaccine mandates for employees or customers. There will no doubt be a push for that in the Legislature, but this is a pretty clear call on the side of private property rights. Businesses should be able to do whatever they deem appropriate, and customers and employees are free to respond accordingly.

COVID-19 will be with us for a long time. The only way out of masks and restrictions, the only way we normalize, is to get as much of the population inoculated. With the delta variant’s rise, vaccination rates have increased modestly in recent weeks, and nearly 56% of eligible Texans are vaccinated.

It’s time for colleges, schools and employers to give the rest a gentle nudge.