Last Tuesday, Governor Brian Kemp signed an executive order that bans the state government from requiring proof of vaccination against the coronavirus.
What We Know:
- Kemp has said in a statement that he is still urging Georgians to get vaccinated. He continues and says that vaccination is a personal decision between each citizen and a medical professional. The ban applies to state agencies, state service providers, and state properties. It also forbids officials from requiring proof of vaccination to travel to Georgia.
- The ban states that official immunization records cannot be shared to create a vaccine passport program. The order doesn’t extend to private businesses or organizations. They could potentially rely on digital passes to make it easier for people to show they’ve been inoculated to travel, attend events, or participate in other activities.
- The ban does include K-12 public schools and Georgia’s higher education system. This means that no local school board of public universities can require vaccination for students or staffers. Emory University and other large private universities have mandated students get the coronavirus vaccine. Governor Brian Kemp recently signed into law an overhaul that imposes new voting restrictions.
- Voting rights groups filed a lawsuit in federal court claiming that it violates the federal Voting Rights Act. As for vaccine passports, New York is the only state distributing the passports to its residents. The executive order is called “Prohibition of COVID-19 Vaccine Passports. Georgia joins other states like Florida and South Dakota in banning COVID-19 passports.
The Biden Administration has said it wouldn’t require Americans to carry a credential and that there won’t be a federal vaccination database.
