Gov. McMaster: Vaccine passports have no place in SC. Republican congressmen agree
S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster and several members of the state’s congressional delegation spoke out this week against requiring U.S. residents to obtain “vaccine passports,” or documentation proving they had been vaccinated against COVID-19.
Thursday afternoon, McMaster tweeted that the documents “will have no place in South Carolina.”
“The very idea is un-American to its core,” McMaster tweeted.
By early Friday afternoon, five of South Carolina’s six Republican congressmen signed a letter in support of McMaster’s stance. The letter was signed by U.S. Reps. Jeff Duncan, R-Laurens; Nancy Mace, R-Daniel Island; Ralph Norman, R-Rock Hill; William Timmons, R-Greenville; and Joe Wilson, R-Springfield.
In the letter, the congressmen said they have “grave concerns” about the practice of using vaccine passports.
“Today, we ask that you do everything in your power under the law to prohibit ‘vaccine passports’ from being required to enter, enjoy and move about our beautiful state,” the letter read.
The congressmen and the governor’s stances come as the Biden administration is working to develop standards for Americans to prove they have received the COVID-19 vaccine, the Washington Post and CNN reported. Vaccine passports have been floated as a potential solution to encouraging international travel, stalled in the pandemic. Airlines are pushing them in hopes of convincing countries to drop some of their COVID-19 precautions for travelers, such as quarantines and bans on visitors.
However, White House press secretary Jen Psaki has said there will be no federal mandate requiring citizens to get a vaccine credential.
The United States is not the only country considering the use of vaccine passports. European Union leaders have called for their implementation. Israel already has a passport system in place.
Despite assurances from the Biden administration, Republicans are sounding alarms and have largely come out against any form of vaccine passport.
The S.C. congressmen called the use of vaccine passports “a threat to both personal liberty and medical privacy.” They said the vaccine passports could cause an undue invasion of South Carolinians’ privacy and could violate HIPAA, a federal law that extends privacy protections to medical records and information.
The congressmen also said they believe the implementation of a vaccine passport could make some people rethink getting the vaccine.
They vowed to fight their use at the federal level.
This story was originally published April 2, 2021 at 1:07 PM.
