Full FDA approval of Pfizer vaccine opens door for vaccine mandates in Texas.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s full approval of the Pfizer vaccine Monday is cracking open the door for Texas cities, counties and school districts to compel their employees to get vaccinated against COVID-19 — moves previously blocked by Gov. Greg Abbott.

Abbott had banned public schools and local governments from enacting their own vaccine mandates. But the governor’s executive order specifies that the ban on mandates applies to COVID-19 vaccines that are under emergency authorization — a designation that no longer applies to the Pfizer two-dose vaccination.

Already, one major school district is pressing forward with its plan to require vaccinations for teachers and staff.

Pedro Martinez, superintendent for the San Antonio Independent School District, called for mandatory employee vaccinations last week — drawing a lawsuit from Attorney General Ken Paxton, who accused the district and Martinez of breaching Abbott’s ban on vaccine mandates.

But with the FDA’s full approval, San Antonio school officials are moving forward with their vaccine requirement for district employees.

In a statement, Martinez called the FDA approval “a positive step forward in the fight against COVID-19 nationwide and a step forward in helping keep schools safe for learning here at home.”

Abbott’s office did not respond to requests for comment.

The vaccine currently has full approval only for people 16 or older, so Abbott's ban on mandates still applies for most public school students. The FDA's move did lead to a quick call for action at the university level. On Monday, the Texas State Employees Union announced that it was teaming up with student groups to host a rally at the University of Texas at Austin to call for vaccine requirements for all students, faculty and staff who come to campus for class and work. UT-Austin officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

One college, the University of Texas at Arlington, said Monday afternoon that it had not evaluated the idea of a mandate "as this was only recently announced."

"Therefore, it would be premature to say that we are or are not considering them," said university spokesperson Joe Carpenter. "Our focus remains on testing all students and employees at the start of the fall semester, promoting the benefits of vaccines and making them readily available to the campus."

Other city and county officials in Texas’ major urban areas have been similarly silent about mandating vaccinations for their workers.

In San Antonio, city manager Erik Walsh said in a text message he has no plans to mandate COVID-19 vaccinations for the city’s 12,000 municipal employees — and will instead rely on cash incentives to convince workers to get their shot.

Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff said Monday he plans to wait to see how many of the county's 5,000 employees take advantage of a vaccine incentive program before figuring out whether the county can compel its workers to get the vaccine.

“It’s easy to say that but it's much harder to have it in place,” Wolff said.

Some kinds of vaccine mandates are still off the table despite the FDA giving Pfizer the green light.