Another Republican Governor Weighs In On Whether Vaccine Passport Is Necessary

Mississippi Republican Gov. Tate Reeves said Thursday he agrees with Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis that vaccine passports aren’t necessary.

“The idea of the government requiring a passport to move freely within a free country certainly strikes me as the wrong approach,” Reeves said during an interview on Fox Business Network’s “Varney & Co.”

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DeSantis announced Monday that he would use executive action against vaccine passports during a briefing at the Florida State Capitol. President Joe Biden’s administration is reportedly talking with multiple private organizations about implementing a universal vaccine passport.

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The administration and companies in the private sector are collaborating to create “vaccine passports,” The Washington Post reported Sunday. With the passport, Americans could prove they received the coronavirus vaccine as businesses are attempting to open again.

Coronavirus response coordinator Jeff Zients said March 12 that non-profit coalitions as well as the private sector are creating a way for people to verify they’ve received the vaccine, according to a White House transcript.

“Our role is to help ensure that any solutions in this area should be simple, free, open source, accessible to people both digitally and on paper, and designed from the start to protect people’s privacy,” Zients said, according to the transcript.

The Mississippi Republican said more Americans, including his state’s residents, should get the vaccine. Reeves credited the decline in coronavirus infections in Mississippi to the vaccine.

“It is the light at the end of the tunnel. I am strongly recommending to all of my constituents to get the vaccine. We have put 1.3 million shots in arms in our state. We hope to get more and more as the weeks and months come,” Reeves said.