Governor Greg Abbott has signed a new executive order that will effectively ban companies in the state of Texas from enforcing a vaccine mandate. The issuance of the executive order on Monday comes just months after Abbott issued a similar ban on the enforcement of mask mandates.

Under the order, entities in Texas are prohibited from compelling any individual to be vaccinated against COVID-19. This includes mandating employees and customers who do not want to be vaccinated for “any reason of personal conscience” and those with religious and medical reasons.

The order also effectively suspends all relevant statutes that will prohibit the implementation of the new rules. Companies that are found to violate the new order will be subject to fines.

Abbott also plans to expand the order to become state law. He said he plans to add the issue of banning vaccine mandates during the next session of the state’s legislature. If legislation is passed to ban vaccine mandates, the executive order will then be rescinded.

“The COVID-19 vaccine is safe, effective, and our best defense against the virus, but should remain voluntary and never forced,” Abbott said.

Abbott’s previous order to ban mask mandates has not been strictly followed as he had hoped. Several school districts in the state have defied his mandates, resulting in lawsuits by the state against those districts.

The vaccine mandate ban comes just weeks after U.S. President Joe Biden imposed a sweeping vaccine mandate that would require all federal workers and contractors to be fully vaccinated. Biden also announced plans to impose a new rule through the Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration that would require companies with more than 100 employees to impose a vaccine mandate.