Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said that vaccine passports that require a person who is vaccinated for COVID-19 to participate in certain activities is a “terrible idea” and won’t get support in Florida.
“The vaccine passport is a terrible idea. We are definitely not going to require anything from the state’s perspective. That is totally off the table,” DeSantis, a Republican, told reporters on Thursday. “If I have businesses that want to do that in Florida, I think that that’s more than just a private decision.”
The idea of a CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus vaccine passport has been floated by some countries and businesses in recent months. However, critics say the proposal would be a violation of Americans’ civil liberties.
“Look, if you want to go to a movie theater or concert, all this stuff, go. If you don’t, don’t. But to require somebody to show some type of proof of vaccination, I think, is completely unacceptable, and it’s not something that we’re going to support here in any way in Florida,” DeSantis said.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has urged countries not to use a CCP virus vaccine passport system due to how vaccines are being rolled out and distributed worldwide. Meanwhile, CCP mouthpiece The Global Times suggested earlier in March that the Chinese regime should build an international “vaccine passport” system.
“Chinese experts noted on Tuesday that China can help by sharing its experience with and provide technical support to the WHO to organize the issue,” the Global Times wrote. “As China is the most experienced country in using a health code system in the world while the WHO is the most proper organizer for the matter to ensure independence, fairness, and data security.”
China this month also launched its own “vaccine passport” system for Chinese nationals traveling internationally.
The digital certificate shows a user’s vaccination status and CCP virus test results. It is accessible via a program on WeChat, a Chinese social media platform, as reported by Al Jazeera.
Meanwhile, a significant number of Americans have expressed skepticism about the CCP virus vaccines. A Harvard CAPS-Harris poll earlier this month found that 41 percent of respondents said they are not willing to receive the shot.
“The single most concerning number in this moths poll is that 4 in 10 of those who have not been vaccinated do not want to take the vaccine. This includes 60 percent of Black voters,” Harvard CAPS-Harris polling director Mark Penn said in an interview with The Hill.
Inside the Biden administration’s quest to create vaccine passports with private companies
Caitlin OwensMon, March 29, 2021, 5:44 AM·1 min read
The Biden administration is working alongside private companies to create “vaccine passports” that would allow Americans to prove they’ve been vaccinated against the coronavirus, the Washington Post reports.
Why it matters: Many companies have said they’ll require proof of vaccination as part of reopening.
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- But creating some form of vaccine passport will be riddled with logistical, technological and ethical challenges.
Where it stands: The administration’s effort has been led by the Department of Health and Human Services, and the White House has recently taken a larger role in coordinating the involved government agencies, per the Post.
- “Our role is to help ensure that any solutions in this area should be simple, free, open source, accessible to people both digitally and on paper, and designed from the start to protect people’s privacy,” coronavirus coordinator Jeff Zients said at a March 12 briefing.
Details: “The passports are expected to be free and available through applications for smartphones, which could display a scannable code similar to an airline boarding pass,” the Post reports.
- “Americans without smartphone access should be able to print out the passports, developers have said.”
- The Biden administration has identified at least 17 passport initiatives already underway, setting up one of the effort’s biggest challenges.
Go deeper: The barriers to vaccine passports
MY THOUGHTS:
So the question is do you want the government have access to your medical records to use against you? Do you want them to be able to track you everywhere you go? Do you want them to be able to prevent you from buying tickets to travel? They would be able to tell if you were denied access to stores, events, travel by wither you were vaccinated or not.
This is not to keep you safe it’s to control what you do and where you go. It’s to track who you might be around.
Ask yourself do you really want private businesses to have this information? Businesses that are working hand in hand with the government!