Arizona GOP congressman introduces No Vaccine Passport Act
WASHINGTON - Arizona Republican Rep. Andy Biggs introduced legislation Thursday that would ban federal agencies from creating "vaccine passports."
Vaccine passports are a method some have purposed to demonstrate whether or not an individual has been vaccinated from the deadly coronavirus.
While proponents of such a system have said it would be helpful in reopening businesses and the travel industry, Republicans in Congress have condemned the idea as an invasion of privacy and an opening for government surveillance.
"I am profoundly disturbed that the Biden Administration would even consider imposing vaccine passports on the American people," Biggs said in a statement Thursday. "My private healthcare decisions—and yours—are nobody else’s business. Vaccine passports will not help our nation recover from COVID-19, instead, they will simply impose more Big Brother surveillance on our society."
Fox News could not immediately reach Biggs for comment or to verify when the White House alleged it would support a vaccine passport program – a statement that would be at odds with their stance on the subject earlier this week.
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White House press secretary Jen Psaki suggested Tuesday that President Biden opposes passport vaccines.
"Let me be very clear on this. I know there's been lots of questions," Psaki said during a press briefing. "The government is not now, nor will we be, supporting a system that requires Americans to carry a credential."
She added, "There will be no federal vaccinations database and no federal mandate requiring everyone to obtain a single vaccination credential."
Some nations in Europe, along with Israel, are already using vaccine passports or are developing similar tracking methods.
Hawaii has floated the idea of instating a vaccine passport for travelers to their state, and New York became the first state to roll out a digital vaccine tracker, called the "Excelsior Pass."
Two Republican state legislators told Fox News that they are planning on introducing legislation to ban vaccine tacking methods, calling the invasion of privacy a "slippery slope."
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott have also already issued executive orders banning vaccine passports in their states.
Audrey Conklin contributed to this report.