Rick Scott bill would ax vaccine passports for domestic air travel

Rick Scott. Image via AP.

Vaccine passports won’t fly in the friendly skies if new legislation from Sen. Rick Scott is cleared for takeoff.

The Freedom to Fly Act would ban “the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) from requiring Americans to show proof of vaccination or produce a vaccine passport for domestic flights and protect the privacy of personal health information,” according to a media release from Scott’s office.

Scott frames the legislation as a way of keeping the federal government out of people’s business.

“Americans are working hard to recover from the devastation of COVID-19, and travel is critical to getting our economy fully reopened. While I continue to encourage everyone who wants one to get the vaccine, the federal government has no business requiring travelers to turn over their personal medical information to catch a flight,” Scott contended. “My Freedom to Fly Act ensures families in Florida and across the country can travel freely and without the ridiculous government bureaucracy created by vaccine passports.”

The bill also addresses the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Though it bans vaccine passports, it does not “limit the authority” of the CDC to “issue guidance or prescribe regulations related to public health.”

However, it does fall in line with other resistance from Florida Republicans, notably Gov. Ron DeSantis and Attorney General Ashley Moody, to the idea of vaccine passports. The DeSantis administration and the federal government are currently mired in mediation regarding vaccine passports and cruise ships.