Society has become more reliant on digital technology since the emergence of the coronavirus, from online schooling to the boom in Amazon shopping to Zoom workplaces. The digitization of life is only just beginning, though, it seems. Vaccine passports are likely to be the next stage in the re-engineering of civilization. Will the U.S. be among the nations to impose these requirements onto the people? After resistance from two state governors, the Biden administration has been forced to back down on plans for a national vaccine passport – or has it?
Two States Ban Government Vaccine Passports
Some states are giving the green light to vaccine passports, with New York moving onward and upward with its Excelsior Pass, but others are defiant in the face of this wave.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, has banned them in his own state. That is, he issued an executive order stopping any government entity from mandating COVID-19 vaccine certification in the state. The EO also prohibits any public or private entity from receiving taxpayer money if it demands such a document. However, private companies that do not receive public funds are still free to insist on any vaccine passport, digital other otherwise, before they agree to a transaction.
While Abbott encouraged Texans to get a COVID inoculation, he stated that these should be voluntary. “Government should not require any Texan to show proof of vaccination and reveal private health information just to go about their daily lives,” he said.
Texas’ move mirrors Florida’s ban, issued by Republican Governor Ron DeSantis only a few days earlier. While the Sunshine State order declares that “businesses in Florida are prohibited” from demanding vaccine documentation, failure to comply results in ineligibility for government funding.
White House Will Not Force Americans Into Vaccine Passport
These two states’ objections to a government-mandated vaccine passport brought the issue to the fore, with White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki denying plans for a national vaccine requirement. “The government is not now, nor will we be, supporting a system that requires Americans to carry a credential,” Psaki told reporters on April 6. “There will be no federal vaccinations database and no federal mandate requiring everyone to obtain a single vaccination credential.”
Does this present any change in the Biden administration’s approach? Not really. As Liberty Nation recently reported, officials have already said the work is being done by the private sector, with the White House merely coordinating other entities’ own passport projects. When you have corporations and organizations – reportedly including IBM and the WHO – dealing with things for you, why dirty your own hands?
Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ), chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, remained unconvinced by these assurances, introducing the No Vaccine Passports Act two days later. The bill would prevent COVID vaccination from being a requirement to access federal property or services. It would also prohibit the federal government from issuing any standardized vaccine pass to private companies for use.
“I am profoundly disturbed that the Biden Administration would even consider imposing vaccine passports on the American people. My private healthcare decisions—and yours—are nobody else’s business," Biggs said. "Vaccine passports will not help our nation recover from COVID-19; instead, they will simply impose more Big Brother surveillance on our society."
The End or the Beginning?
The way this is likely to unfold was neatly summarized by Dr. Anthony Fauci on the April 5 episode of Politico’s Dispatch podcast:
“I doubt that the federal government will be the main mover of a vaccine passport concept. They may be involved in making sure things are done fairly and equitably, but I doubt if the federal government is going to be the leading element of that … I do believe that there will be individual entities that will do that. There may be theatres that say ‘you don’t get in unless you have proof of vaccination.’ There may be colleges or other educational institutions that do that. I’m not saying they should or that they would, but I’m saying you could foresee how an independent entity might say, ‘well, we can’t be dealing with you unless we know you’re vaccinated.’ But it’s not going to be mandated from the federal government.”
Will each venue or corporation need to administer its own app? With the Biden administration reportedly coordinating 17 separate projects, will a standardized “voluntary” app or card be facilitated by the federal government for use by private enterprise?
Vaccine passports may present the most fundamental shift in society resulting from the COVID pandemic – though with the so-called Great Reset and “Build Back Better” campaigns still largely unknown quantities lurking behind the scenes in the halls of government and globalist institutes, who knows what’s yet to come?
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Read more from Laura Valkovic.
