The April 2 mandate signed by DeSantis forbids state organizations or private businesses to demand customers show vaccine passports as a requirement for working or obtaining products and services.
DeSantis elaborated on his opposition to vaccine passports during a March 29 press conference. According to DeSantis, requiring the COVID-19 vaccine passports would create "two classes of citizens based on vaccination."
"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," he said.
DeSantis also took a jab at the fact that large corporations were handling vaccine passport data. He voiced out his concern over possible privacy breaches. The governor remarked: "You want the fox to guard the henhouse? Give me a break."
The governor's order elicited mixed reactions from lawmakers at the state level.
Republican Rep. Anthony Sabatini commented that he would work to make it a law in Florida at the soonest. "This order is immediate, but must be passed into law. I'll be fighting to make sure this law passes," he tweeted.
On the other hand, Democratic Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith pointed out that DeSantis "is creating even more vaccine hesitancy with [the] reckless order." He noted that the governor signed the measure while he himself had not yet received the vaccine. Smith later called on DeSantis to "get the shot … [and] lead by example" in a tweet.
The governor expressed his intent to get vaccinated in response to the Democratic lawmaker's challenge.
DeSantis's order came amid a push toward widespread use of vaccine passports. According to Biden administration officials, there are currently at least 17 different passport initiatives by private and public entities in the pipeline. However, the White House clarified that vaccine passports and other similar measures will not be implemented at the federal level.
DeSantis's mandate also followed comments by GOP lawmakers at the U.S. House of Representatives regarding vaccine passports.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) compared the vaccine passports to the "mark of the beast" mentioned in Revelation 13:16-17. The GOP representative said in a video: "They want you to have something called a [COVID-19] passport. And this will mandate your ability to travel, go to events and buy and sell." Greene later tweeted: "Is this something like Biden's mark of the beast? Because that's really disturbing and not good."
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) slammed the Biden administration's more stringent approach toward citizens' freedoms by means of vaccine passports. He compared this to the administration's disregard of illegal immigration at the southern border. Jordan mentioned the double standard in a tweet: "The Biden administration: Considering a 'vaccination passport' for Americans, [but] doesn't seem to care about [a] passport when it comes to illegal immigrants."
U.S. senators from the GOP also joined their counterparts at the lower chamber in rebuking the vaccine passports.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) said on Twitter: "If you think voter ID [laws are] racist, but a vaccine passport is just fine, you need some serious help thinking through public policy. Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) agreed with Paul and slammed vaccine passports as "unconstitutional and dangerous." He wrote on Twitter: "Liberals think requiring an ID for voting is obtrusive and racist. Yet they want public health 'experts' – who were wrong about nearly everything – to administer a vaccine passport?" (Related: TWISTED: Biden regime wants to mandate COVID-19 "vaccine passport" for all Americans but continues to oppose voter ID.)
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem tweeted that the proposed COVID-19 vaccine passport "is one of the most un-American ideas in [the] nation's history" and exhorted Americans to "oppose this oppression." (Related: LA Times columnist admits vaccine passports will ‘single out’ vaccine skeptics, 'break the resistance down'.)
Visit MedicalTyranny.com to read more about plans to implement COVID-19 vaccine passports and efforts against these.
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