Florida Governor Ron DeSantis was the first U.S. governor to announce he would oppose and block any attempt to make vaccination passports a requirement for any engagement with state government or private enterprise.  DeSantis then signed an executive order temporarily and proactively blocking any effort to require proof of vaccination.

Today, the Florida House of Representatives passed a bill (SB 2006) to ban the use of COVID vaccination passports.  This bill will now reconcile with a Florida Senate bill that carried the same intent.

Good job Florida!

With a key lawmaker saying he recognizes that vaccine hesitancy is “real and understandable,” the Florida House on Wednesday approved a measure that would limit local emergency orders and make permanent Gov. Ron DeSantis’ executive order barring COVID-19 vaccine “passports.”

The House voted 76-40 to approve the proposal (SB 2006), which Pandemics & Public Emergencies Committee Chairman Tom Leek, R-Ormond Beach, said would prepare Florida for the next public-health emergency while striking a “delicate balance between protecting people and protecting people’s civil liberties.

[…] The Senate passed the bill last week, but the measure needs to return to the Senate because of changes made by the House.

DeSantis on April 2 issued the executive order blocking COVID-19 passports, which he said would create “huge” privacy issues that could result in people handing over medical information to a “big corporation.”

“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,” DeSantis said before signing the order. “If you want to go to the movie theater, should you have to show that? No. If you want to go to a game, no. If you want to go to a theme park, no. … I think it’s something that people have certain freedoms and individual liberties to make decisions for themselves.” (read more)

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