DeSantis Says 'No' To Vaccine Passports In Florida

FLORIDA — As major airlines and the European Union shows support for so-called vaccine passports, Gov. Ron DeSantis told reporters Thursday in Panama City that would not happen in Florida.

A vaccine passport is documentation that shows a traveler has been vaccinated against COVID-19 or recently tested negative for the virus that causes it, the Associated Press reported. Plans call for a person's vaccine information to be stored on a cell phone so it can be shared with airline employees and border officers. The Biden Administration is in support of a hard copy of the document, too.

"I just want to make very clear in Florida, we are not doing any vaccine passports," DeSantis said. All those experts (at the Public Health Roundtable on Thursday in Tallahassee) said it was a bad idea. I think it's a bad idea, so that will not happen, and so folks should get vaccinated while they want to...but in no case will the state be asking you to show proof of vaccinations. And I don't think private companies should be doing that either, so we're going to ... see what we can do to make sure we're protecting Floridians."

Supporters hope the “digital green certificates” will be ready by June, which could help to salvage the European summer tourism season and even serve as a model that could be extended to the United States and other countries, according to the Washington Post.

The White House said the government shouldn't issue the credentials or store the data, Politico reported. Public health experts and bioethicists told the outlet digital credentialing could discriminate against disadvantaged populations.

The Florida Department of Health reported 5,093 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, bringing the state's total to 1,994,117 since the beginning of the pandemic; 82,997 hospitalizations; and 33,219 coronavirus-related deaths.

DeSantis also said that the COVID-19 vaccine requirement age would be lowered to 55 at some point in March. This comes after the vaccine age was lowered to 60 on Monday. He said that they want to keep lowering the age until everyone can get the vaccine.