Story at a glance
- Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed an executive order prohibiting vaccination passports.
- The potential documentation could be used as certain sectors reopen.
- Experts like Anthony Fauci say the federal government most likely will not be involved in implementing vaccine passports.
As discussion continues over whether “vaccine passports” will — or can — be implemented to help industries safely reopen amid the pandemic, several politicians are taking a stand against various groups asking the public (in the future) for proof of a COVID-19 vaccine to access services.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) disavowed the use of such documentation, releasing an executive order Tuesday prohibiting organizations receiving public funds from creating vaccine passports and requiring someone to provide proof of a vaccine.
“Everyday, Texans are returning to normal life as more people get the safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine. But, as I’ve said all along, these vaccines are always voluntary and never forced,” he said. “Government should not require any Texan to show proof of vaccination and reveal private health information just to go about their daily lives.”
Texans shouldn’t be required to show proof of vaccination & reveal private health information just to go about their daily lives.
I issued an Executive Order that prohibits government-mandated vaccine passports in Texas.
Don’t tread on our personal freedoms. pic.twitter.com/weTbz4FKyH
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) April 6, 2021
This comes as Abbott lifted the statewide mask mandate and reopened all public and economic sectors. He cited the widespread circulation of vaccines and other COVID-19 treatments as the main reason to reopen businesses and stores.
Abbott did note in the announcement that COVID-19 “has not disappeared” and that the declaration “does not abandon safe practices that Texans have mastered over the past year.”
In the early months of the pandemic in 2020, Abbott was one of the last remaining governors to implement statewide mask mandates and public health protocols recommended by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
National data indicates that Texas has recorded steady declines in new COVID-19 cases since January.
About 16 percent of the population has been vaccinated completely, with 28 percent having received a single dose.
In a similar legislative stroke, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) also banned vaccine passports, claiming that they will create “two classes of citizens.”
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) joined both politicians by calling vaccine passports “one of the most un American ideas in our nation’s history” on Twitter, and further referred to them as a form of “oppression.”
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