Governor Ron DeSantis has banned government from issuing and business from requiring any type of COVID-19 vaccine passport in Florida. DeSantis says requiring vaccine passports for taking part in everyday life “would create two classes of citizens based on vaccination.” His order goes on to say “it is necessary to protect the fundamental rights and privacies of Floridians and the free flow of commerce within the state.”
The executive order prevents any Florida government entity from issuing vaccine passports or “other standardized documentation to certify an individual’s COVID-19 vaccination status to a third party, or otherwise publish or share any individual’s COVID-19 vaccination record or similar health information.” Also, Florida businesses are “prohibited from requiring patrons or customers to provide any documentation certifying COVID-19 vaccination or post-transmission recovery to gain access to, entry upon, or service from the business.”
The Governor made it clear the state legislature is also going to pass a law protecting Floridians from vaccine passports.
“Today I issued an executive order prohibiting the use of so-called COVID-19 vaccine passports,” Gov. DeSantis said on social media. “The Legislature is working on making permanent these protections for Floridians and I look forward to signing them into law soon.”
The DeSantis executive order states that “so-called COVID-19 vaccine passports reduce individual freedom and will harm patient privacy” while making a point that “individual COVID-19 vaccination records are private health information.”
Click here for the full text of Gov. DeSantis’ executive order.
