Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill officially banning vaccine passports and ending public COVID-19 rules. It goes into effect on July 1.
Private businesses can still implement their own mask and social distancing rules.
From The Miami Herald:
“I think it’s the evidence-based thing to do,’’ DeSantis said at St. Petersburg restaurant where he signed the bill with House Speaker Chris Sprowls and Senate President Wilton Simpson at this side. “I think folks that are saying that they need to be policing people at this point, if you’re saying that you really are saying you don’t believe in the vaccines, you don’t believe in the data you don’t believe in the science….We are no longer in the state of emergency.”The provision regulating so-called “vaccine passports” is tucked into, SB 2006, a bill intended to update the state’s emergency powers in the face of a future public health emergency. The new law is effective July 1, but DeSantis also on Monday said he would sign an executive order invalidating all remaining local emergency COVID orders that are still in place after July 1 and suspend immediately any orders related to COVID-19 now.
“The bill ensures that neither the state or local governments can close businesses or keep kids out of in-personal instruction unless they satisfy a demanding and continuous justification,” added DeSantis.
Businesses and local governments face up to a $5,000 fine if they try to require proof of a COVID vaccine. They can have health screenings if they are “consistent with authoritative or controlling government-issued guidance to protect public health.”
The bill exempts licensed healthcare providers from the vaccine passport ban.
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