Parson Says No to Mandatory Vaccine Passports

Government officials, businesses, medical experts, teachers and others have been sounding their opinions about mandatory vaccine cards and passports ever since the first doses became available.

In the state of Missouri we are not going to mandate that people have to carry around a vaccine card - Missouri Governor Mike Parson

Some people are for proof of vaccination because it may keep people around them safe and comfortable in large groups. Others say it goes against their Constitutional right of privacy, and doesn’t make any sense to require proof of coronavirus vaccination but not proof of vaccination against the flu or chicken pox for example.

No matter how people may feel about being required to carry paperwork that shows they have been COVID vaccinated, they should know that in some areas of the country passports are in the implementation stage now. However, the Missouri Senate has taken steps this week to ban vaccine passports or mandates that people must carry or present vaccine documents on demand.

The vaccination amendment was passed during yesterday’s discussion of transportation Senate Bill 46.

The bill has been placed on the calendar for a third reading and could be voted on by the Senate as early as next week. It states, “No entity in this state shall require documentation of an individual having received a vaccination against any disease in order for the individual to access transportation systems or service.”

Missouri Governor Mike Parson agrees with banning a mandatory vaccination passport: “If people want to get a card to say they’ve been vaccinated, I think that’s up to them. It’s definitely encroaching on individual rights and freedoms when you start mandating a federal card.”

So far New York became the first state to launch a passport system for entering certain venues, and Hawaii is also developing a passport that travelers would be required to show upon entering or leaving the state.

The Federal Government has indicated that it will provide guidance on vaccination passports, but the White House has alluded that decisions will mainly be left up to local governments and businesses.

Governor Parson says he won’t be going along with a mandated vaccine passport while people aren’t mandated to show identification for other important issues like voting.

“You know it’s ironic that we’re talking about you have to have a vaccine passport verses a voter ID, “said Parson. “People don’t want to have an ID for voting, yet they want to have one for vaccines. In the state of Missouri we are not going to mandate that people have to carry around a vaccine card.”

KPGZ News - Brian Watts contributed to this story