Florida Governor Ron DeSantis Says He Will Ban Vaccine Passports in His State

Last updated on July 18th, 2023 at 01:25 pm

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) pushed back against requiring vaccine passports in his state, saying he wouldn’t allow them.

“We are not supporting doing any vaccine passports in the state of Florida,” he said. “It’s completely unacceptable for either the government or the private sector to impose upon you the requirement that you show proof of vaccine to just simply be able to participate in normal society.”

“You want to go to a movie theater. Should you have to show that? No. You want to go to a game, should you have to show that? No. You want to go to a theme park? No. We’re not supportive of that,” he continued.

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DeSantis’s remarks came after news outlets reported that the Biden administration is reportedly working on a national vaccine-passport program that would allow people to prove they’ve been vaccinated before entering private venues.

Jeffrey Zients, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, said at a briefing earlier this month, “As we increase the number of people vaccinated, we know some people may have a need to demonstrate that they are vaccinated.”

“The private sector and not-for-profit coalitions are already beginning to work on this,” he added. “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.”

Alan Herrera

Alan is a writer, editor, and news junkie based in New York.