Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced Wednesday that the state will not require patients to receive a COVID-19 vaccine in order to obtain an organ transplant. Abbott first shared the information in a statement to The Washington Examiner. “Democrats have gone too far with their vaccine mandates,” Abbott’s office said in the statement. “First, they were endangering people’s livelihoods. Now, they’re endangering people’s lives. Here in Texas, vaccines remain voluntary and never forced. Anyone being denied critical, life-saving organ transplants is welcome here in Texas, where one’s rights and freedoms are always protected,” the statement added. The issue arose on Oct. 5 when Colorado State Rep. Tim Geitner, a Republican, posted a letter on Twitter regarding UCHealth denying a kidney transplant because the patient was not fully vaccinated against the coronavirus. The Colorado patient, Dawn McLaughlin, had been advised by her doctor not to be vaccinated. She claimed to be following …