In a move that will pit him against U.S. President Joe Biden, Texas Governor Greg Abbott has passed an executive order banning all entities, both public and private, from enforcing vaccines in the state. Last month President Biden had asked employers to ensure that their staff are vaccinated or regularly tested, CNBC reported.

Republican Governor Abbott has been quite vocal against vaccine mandates since the beginning of the pandemic and is among many in the U.S. that see mandatory vaccines as encroaching on constitutional freedoms, BBC reported. Abbott has also opposed mask mandates and passed executive orders that ban local governments and school districts from enforcing masks with $1,000 fines for failing to comply with these orders, CNBC reported.

Interestingly, Abbott himself is fully vaccinated and according to the BBC, even attributed his recovery from the disease to the vaccine. But believes that President Biden's mandate is "another instance of federal overreach" that is "bullying private entities" and "causing workforce disruptions" that are "threatening Texas' continued recovery from COVID-19", as per his executive order.