Florida governor signs executive order banning vaccine passport use at businesses

‘We will not have COVID vaccines mandated in Florida,’ Gov. Ron DeSantis says

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Sticking to his promise, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed an executive order Friday effectively banning the use of vaccine passports in Florida.

The executive order prevents any Florida government entity from issuing a vaccine passport to prove that a person has been vaccinated for COVID-19. The order also bans businesses in Florida from requiring customers to provide COVID-19 vaccine documentation to gain access or services.

The order says “requiring so-called COVID-19 vaccine passports for taking part in everyday life — such as attending a sporting event, patronizing a restaurant, or going to a movie theater — would create two classes of citizens based on vaccination.”

According to the governor’s order, vaccines are not mandated in Florida and an individual’s decision to get a vaccine is private health information.

When a person receives their vaccination they already receive a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention card certifying their COVID-19 vaccine.

Earlier this week, DeSantis said the emergency executive order would be forthcoming.

“There was never under discussion any mandates to take vaccines. We will not have COVID vaccines mandated in Florida,” DeSantis said Monday. “The flip side of that though with these vaccine passports is 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.”

The executive order prohibiting vaccine passports is temporary and would need to be extended.

DeSantis said he would also work with the Florida legislature to find a more permanent solution to restrict the use of vaccine passports.

Rep. Anthony Sabatini responded to the executive order saying he would work to make it law in Florida.

“This Order is immediate, but MUST be passed into law. As a State Rep., I’ll be fighting to make sure this law passes ASAP!” the Republican state representative tweeted.

Democratic Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith responded to the governor’s order pointing to his un-vaccinated status.

DeSantis “is creating even more vaccine hesitancy with this reckless order, AND YET he still hasn’t even been vaccinated,” Smith wrote in a tweet.

DeSantis said earlier this week he plans to get the vaccine soon now that he is eligible.

https://www.clickorlando.com/news/local/...-at-businesses/

So where do the rights of a business begin and end? Does a business not have a right to take the measures they deem appropriate to keep themselves, their employees and their customers safe?

Do you even feel this executive order is legal?

And why would you protect those in our society who refuse to take basic, common sense measures to keep others safe?

There's a lot to unpack here. I see a lot of law suits and other states attempting to take this same measure all for the sake of politics while ignoring the safety of their own citizens.

All Covid Vaccines have received only "emergency" use authorization currently. Such that there are not even any vaccines which have been given authorization, for general or regular use.
Much like the link from the other thread a couple days ago, Military service members' don't have to take the vaccine by order, because it's only emergency use authorization.

There was a problem in the past with an anti anthrax vaccine and Gulf War Illness was an unexplained illness in the same time frame.


https://www.fda.gov/vaccines-blood-biologics/vaccines/emergency-use-authorization-vaccines-explained

I have no problem with that.

If getting this vaccine is the mark of the Beast, I wish I hadn't.

If private business wants to do that, that is one thing. If the government, state or federal does, screw that.

I am not going to use it as my passport.

So then you agree that private business has the right to require a vaccine card to enter their establishment?

Tell that to Disney.

Such hypocrisy.
you were all up arms when a private business,a bakery,refused to make a cake for a gay couple's wedding.Now,your all about the rights of the private business.
If the gov't has the authority to tell that family run bakery to bake that damned cake,then the gov't certainly has the right to tell businesses they can't refuse customers for not having been vaccinated.

There's one difference you forgot to mention. I believe gay people should be a protected class like other groups of people are. That you shouldn't be able to discriminate based on sexual preference. Using your religion as a weapon to discriminate against people who do not have the same belief system as yourself is something I would never support.

But do mindlessly continue to carry on.

One is a case of discrimination, the other is a public health issue. I don't think the two are equivalent.

J/C

I have many issues with these passports, but it’s not for the reason FloridaMan has issues.

It seems like passports could and would be used to keep groups locked out who can’t get easy access to obtaining a passport through paper or digital means.

We don’t need this to turn into the mess that voting restrictions from the GOP has.

IMHO, no vaccine? Stay in the trailer park.

I cannot see how you can be against the Georgia voting laws and also be against this executive order.

We all know people of color are going to have less opportunities to get the vaccine. How are you going to let your business make this requirement when it will disproportionately affect PoC?

I cannot wrap my mind around it; sounds pretty hypocritical to me.

I think the two are only different in one way. I don't believe any business would begin such a vaccine passport type program until everyone had an opportunity to get the vaccine. I don't believe it's something they would start right away.

They are both laws imposed by a state to limit rights. In one case it's the rights of voters. In the other case it's the rights of business. I'm not sure how opposing both is in any way a conflict.

Actually what I think they are referring to is the card you get when you receive your vaccine. It's simply proof you have been given both vaccines.

This did not happen. What happened was the opposite.

As Throw and others have pointed out earlier, the vaccines are currently being used under emergency use authority. They have not been approved. Because they haven't been approved, they can't be mandated (by the govt).
A privately run business is just that... privately run... and they are well within their rights to run their business as they see fit.
ipso facto... DeSantis is a moron.

Well, sort of.

Biden has been exploring legit passports for vaccines. It makes sense in theory for certain activities and venues, but we need to make sure it’s not a hidden thing to “keep out the poors” like with what a lot of states are doing with “voting reform”.

Hard to answer. I said if business wants to do that, that is one thing, but I can't say I agree.

The question begs, does a private business have the right to a private citizens health records? I don't believe they do or can...or would for that matter.

Can they continue to require a mask? In that case, probably so. One could argue that is a part of the store dress code.

We agree, though I am not all that fired up over voter reform like you.

Everybody who gets the vaccine gets the card when finished. Getting the card would be no issue, but I agree, not having one could eliminate one from essential activities, and I don't agree with that.

The President might as well mandate our forearms tattooed or chips inserted in our bodies.

I too could see this used for nefarious means if unchecked.

Anybody here up for that?

You had that Ohio coffee shop owner telling people if they voted for Biden to get their coffee elsewhere... Should be the same type of thing. No vaccine, stay out. Trump supporter, really stay out. That way your business is covid and idiot free.

Not like it would really work anyway, just look at all the karens and kens that couldn't even be bothered to wear a mask, then throw a fit when they were forced to in order to shop.

You are just typing to type. There is a good basketball game on TV, go watch that.

Somebody has to stay here and call you out for your racist comments when you make them.

I was wondering how long before a counterfeit certificate would be available.

by Microsoft News


Newsweek
Fake COVID Vaccine Certificates And Real Vaccines Are For Sale on Dark Web

Paul Bond


3/23/2021

text: A fake CDC vaccination certificate sells for $200 on the Darknet. © Courtesy of Check Point Research A fake CDC vaccination certificate sells for $200 on the Darknet.

Now that vaccines for the coronavirus are available, some people are eager to prove they have received the shots even if they haven't. These folks are willing to pay unseen grifters to help them dupe local officials, cruise lines, the airline industry, potential employers and other doubters, according to a study set for release Tuesday.



There are three dozen vendors on the Darknet, which is not visible to search engines, that are selling fake certificates for up to $200 each, according to Check Point Research, a division of Check Point Software Technologies

.https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/fake-covid-vaccine-certificates-and-real-vaccines-are-for-sale-on-dark-web/ar-BB1eRGyI

Get lost.

Maybe I'm off base here but a school can require children be vaccinated and ask for proof of vaccinations. I don't actually think that requiring proof of vaccinations can be considered private medical information.

Oh dear God. Are you serious?

So you somehow think Biden is looking into a program to "keep out the poors"?

The FARCE is strong with that one. Q says what?

where does a school requiring vaccine records fall? Because I'm pretty sure most school require students to have the basic vaccines... (this is a legit question because I find this a tricky situation/topic)

Let's flip this around. If the government made an order that businesses must require customers to have a vaccine passport, I doubt liberals would have a problem with that.

Maybe we should have the women who can't get abortions decide if you MUST get a vaccine.

A question I considered when I made my previous reply. They are minors and can't make decisions as can grown adults.

Sticky questions get weak answers. (shrug)

Like I said, we might as well tattoo the have's and have not's.

Are some saying that business or any entity start checking a persons health records before they can enter a building or for that matter, walk down the street?

That would set quite the precedent. The vaccine requirement for schools (which has more than enough loopholes, btw), is one thing... govt mandating businesses to turn away customers is a level we haven't seen.

Here's your problem......

HHS renews COVID-19 national public health emergency declaration

https://www.aha.org/news/headline/2020-1...ncy-declaration

Covid 19 has been declared a national health emergency. It's not someone "asking for your health records". It's simply a measure to get a national health emergency under control. You are jumping though hoops trying to make crazy comparisons to getting tattooed and chipped by the government to make excuses why common sense measures shouldn't be allowed by businesses to help protect their employees and customers from it.

And it's yet another in a line of made up scenarios to maker excuses why businesses shouldn't be allowed to protect their customers and employees from a virus which has been declared a national health emergency and killed over 550k Americans.

I don't have a problem any more than you do.

I don't care what the HHS has to say on the matter. OK, I do to a degree but not on this issue.

Plus, you don't know what they plan to do or how they intend to act in the future. Our president is talking about health passports.

I don't need to hear anything else. Let's ask the Jews what they think about needing government issued numbers to allow travel, to shop, to work.

I understand you must have a problem seeing the direct correlation between the two but it's actually pretty easy to see. And yes, a national health emergency matters. You do understand its people who fight every common sense measure to protect people from Covid that have helped continue its spread, right?

Business can still require masks if they wish.

You can still wear a mask if you wish. If a business comes up with a policy that people can't wear a mask, I will have a problem with that.

My theory is take care of yourself. If you do that, in turn you are taking care of others.

Business has the right to refuse service to anyone they choose so long as they are not a protected class. At least that's what you promote when it comes to baking a gay couple a wedding cake.

I never said anything about cakes for gay people. I don't care about that. Just bake the cake. If it bothers the baker that much, don't put a groom and groom on top. Deliver it without. If they complain when it is delivered, tell them you ran out of figurines and knock $40 off the price.

I'd also add the couple can be decent about things and find another baker. This is Mickey Mouse stuff.


Also, I don't like the term protected class. Sounds like endangered species to me.

Businesses turn away customers all the time for no shirt or no shoes... just add no passport to that. OR show your tattoo at the door... smh

I think that anyone denying covid is real or refusing the vaccine after 550K deaths shouldn't even have a place at the table in talks about what we need going forward. You don't give a petulant child a choice.

The point is that business has the right to refuse service to people under their own guidelines. And "protected class" simply means the grounds that they can't refuse service to people based on certain things. Such as race or religion. Of course you know that and are simply being obtuse at this juncture.

I have to make a statement about the "president is talking about health passports" point.

There is a false premise that health passports would be administered by the federal government. That's just not the case. It is done by the States and supported developed by business, and there has been no federal involvement other than coordination. I listened to a long interview with an IBM developer on Smerconish (XMSirius) the other day and it was pretty clear how it is being implemented.

Somehow, just like everything else we are getting the big government boogeyman drama. Now what most people and business want is for their lives to return to normal as quickly as possible if passports or vaccine cards help, than so be it.

There will always be a group who want to have their cake and eat it to. These are the challenged ones. Those who want herd immunity, but for them not to get the vaccine, and to be able to freely move around as if nothing happened. The "Don't Tread on Me" crowd firmly has its head stuck up its rear, and if they don't want the vaccine, they have better be prepared to live in isolation.

Me, I will be willing to show my vaccine card whenever required, and I really don't want to be around a non-vaccine person.

Its no different than getting a vaccine to be allowed entry into school and if you want to be part of society, be part of the solution instead of part of the problem.

As long as you have a shot, you are in a database. Facts are facts, and there is no avoiding them.

great post

Vaccine passports (on their own dime)to enter the country legally? What's good for the American citizen is good for those that want to come here..and shots after crossing don't count.

But the anti vaccine crowd wants special treatment in NOT getting the shot AND still getting to return to normal. They expect those who do get the vaccine to just accept the exposure to them and the risk they present because of "mAh RiGhTs".

I think we might be saying the same thing, but I'll hit send on this post anyway just in case....

For me, the topic here is not a health emergency thing (we're not talking about temporary mask-wearing, or social distancing, etc... we're talking about afterwards mandating using a COVID passport). So from that angle, it's not so much the business' job to protect their customers as it is to allow the businesses to run themselves as they see fit. If they feel that their specific service warrants requiring their customers to be vaccinated, then that's their prerogative. What DeSantis is doing (had to double-check we've gotten to the point in the thread where the conversation starts to shift/pivot) is telling businesses that they can't do that, which is wrong. He's also preventing FL from issuing it (I assume is the poorly-sized vaccine card that everyone gets?), which is super-duper dumb.

I was simply trying to point out the possible motivation businesses may have for requiring such a vaccine card. I don't really care what their reasoning is. They have that right. And the amazing thing about it is, the same people that object to allowing business to make such a requirement are the very same people that claim those same businesses have the right to dictate whether their employees receive birth control on their healthcare plans, refuse service to other customers based on "their freedoms", and say businesses can conduct themselves as they so choose.

Right up until the moment it's something they don't like.

The only time I've actually called out the rights of business is when they down right discriminate on people who live a lifestyle that goes against their religious beliefs. I've always believed in the freedom of religion right up to the point you use your religion to discriminate against others.

Simple question, especially as someone already pointed out the blackmarket and fake cards.

Who at the business is going to verify the authenticity of the card?

Since it seems vaccines are only good about 6 months, do we have expiration dates for the cards?

Going to Publix will be like going to the club with a line and a muscle guy denying entrance because you didn't come with hot chicks.

Seems simpler to just maintain the whole "business can require masks" until they feel their regional area is relatively safe/vaccinated. It's easier to verify a mask on someone face to a small card that anyone can duplicate.

If you get the vaccine, why are you worried about exposure?

It would be up to the business as to who they designate to check the cards.

I've seen that after six months the vaccine is still effective. I haven't see that it's only good for six months.

My point isn't really concerning what's easier. I think you are correct that would be much easier to simply look for masks being worn. My point and my part of the discussion is about the rights of a business to require it.

As for the black market. You can get a drivers license, a passport and any drug you desire on the black market. Yet society still requires you to have a passport and a drivers license. I can't think of any state where cocaine or heroin is legal either.

I had no idea the lack of hot chicks killed over 550k Americans and counting.

Agree about fake drivers license and passports, although passports are harder now than before and are tracked as you travel abroad.

But a simple cardboard card is as simple as a home printer and any 15 year old. It doesn't require take some back alley transaction.

The six months thing I saw on the local news, which of course their headline was misleading, "Vaccine immunity lasts 6 months, report at 11".

I just looked online for info and it appears the real headline should have been "Vaccine still strong after 6 months".

“The good news is that in the 6-month status report from Pfizer, immunity stays very strong, and we anticipate that it will continue to stay strong,” said Bailey.

https://www.healthline.com/health-news/how-long-does-immunity-from-covid-19-vaccination-last

True, it would certainly easier to reproduce a vaccine card. But I think the overriding point to me is we shouldn't expect a business, if they decide to make every attempt at being safe, to simply forego that attempt just because people cheat.

I mean we could use that same methodology for almost anything.

j/c...

You tell me how long the vaccine is good for and then I might accept the covid carrying lepers around me in public without their segregating scarlet letter. But the best way to put covid in the rearview mirror for good is to force vaccination by making the unvaccinated feel like pariahs. It's brilliant really.

If you can't show your vaccine passport YOU can't vote. I like the sound of that.

mandatory or banned....sounds like communism.

Everything looks like communism to you.

Some people were saying the same things during the Spanish flu epidemic. That killed a million people in our country. I guess now you will soon be calling many businesses communist. Some people just seem to lack an understanding of the consequences of a pandemic and would rather label common sense methods to help prevent the spread with an negative label to give it a political label rather than practice safe options for the betterment of their fellow citizens.

Then claim those who disagree are the communists when the patriotic thing to do is take all common sense measures to help protect the life of all Americans.

Select vaccinated fans will have increased access to NFL Draft festivities in Cleveland

https://www.news5cleveland.com/sports/20...aft-festivities

Ruh roh Ralph! It loks like the Browns are turning to communism!

So what you saying is, you're ok disenfranchising a large and disproportionate number of people of color, as long as you are also disenfranchising a large portion of conservatives as well? Am I reading that correctly?

Data on who is getting vaccinated

Black people have many justified reasons to distrust the government and health professionals, but it sounds like a lot of you more "liberal" folk are ok with denying them service and the right to vote...interesting.

Oh give it up. You’re one of the first to tell minority groups how wrong they are.

Oh give it up. Youre the first one to tell majority groups how wrong they are.

Here’s the thing. I can tell my group how to act because I’m a white dude.

I cannot tell a minority group how to act or behave because I am not part of that group.

Is it really that hard to comprehend? Then again, I’m talking to the lady who must be blind to the amount of Q stuff that was at the putsch on the 6th.

You cant tell anybody how to act because youre a white dude. Dont you listen to your own propaganda.

Its interesting to know that you believe in 12 year old boy conspiracy theories. How do you even have a job.

That is where you wimp out. You can tell anybody how to act when they aren't acting right.

Well you need to act better then Peen. You too Eve.

You're right Peen, that felt good.

You can keep playing identity politics, and I'll keep looking at people as individuals and not a part of a group, thanks.

Which women would that be?

that's totally illogical. We are all part of many groups, and we relate to those groups at different times for different reasons.

So unless you are part of the male, straight, over 50, Scottish heritage, married with kids, bald, Christian, gun owning, moderately conservative, 4 wheel drive vehicle owning, Browns loving, Univ of Maryland graduate, works in construction, lives in the south group, then you are not part of my group... and therefore, cannot tell me how to act.

If, on the other hand, you believe your whiteness singularly defines you... then I can't help you.

These are the same politicians who want to restrict your voting rights. No ID no vote. No vaccine no play. Stay home.

I think you are confused.

I think not. You can’t have it both ways. But the GQP always wants it that way.