The Biden administration will not require ‘vaccine passports’ by law, but is ready to support companies that follow the technology, Transport Minister Pete Buttigieg said on Sunday.
“We do not consider it the role of government to create or draft any form of vaccine passport, but these technologies are there,” Buttigieg said. said Jake Tapper of CNN when asked if he supports airlines that require customers, they should provide vaccination documents to fly.
“The private sector is working on it,” Buttigieg said. “We want to follow through and provide any technical advice or support where needed.”
The Secretary of Transportation said that the Biden Administration and CDC would give recommendations to airlines to make their own decisions about ‘what they think is right – to protect their passengers, to protect their workers and to have confidence in the safety of American travel. to build up. . ”
“At the moment, what we are seeing is, you know, fortunately that the guidelines reflect the progress that has been made with vaccinations,” he told Tapper.
Republican leaders across the country have vowed to fight ‘vaccine passports’, which Kevin McCarthy, leader of the House of Minorities, said Friday “something you would expect in communist China.”
‘Thanks to the safe vaccinations of Operation Warp Speed, we will defeat the virus. “Forcing Americans to carry a ‘vaccine passport’ to work on a daily basis is unacceptable in a free society,” McCarthy said. posted on Twitter.
The governors of Texas and Florida, meanwhile, have moved to ban state-owned enterprises from requiring vaccine documentation.