Do Americans Need a Vaccine Passport for Interstate Travel?

No.

By
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A widely shared Instagram post claims that “Americans need a vaccine passport for interstate travel,” even though, “illegal immigrants are pouring” through “our open borders without any type of passport.” 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CNCzlsng98b

These claims are false. 

Any measure that regulated interstate travel would have to come from the federal government. The Biden administration has made it clear that there will not be a federal mandate for COVID-19 vaccination verification, otherwise known as a “vaccine passport,” but instead any restrictions would come from the private sector. 

During a White House press briefing on March 29, Andy Slavitt, acting director for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, explained that a “vaccine passport” would not be instituted by the federal government: “The government here is not viewing its role as the place to create a passport, nor a place to hold the data of citizens,” he said. “We view this as something that the private sector is doing and will do.”

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  1. Kaweeka

    Well if you want to visit Hawaii in the future you will need “proof of vaccination” (we can call it something else it’s still a passport) or a test (some islands two), or spend 10 days in quarantine. A vaccination passport sure sounds like the best plan and when someone I disagree with almost all the time (Froma Harrop) says the same thing I wish people would stop making such a big deal about it. I’ll get mine as soon as it’s available and I will always follow the rules/guidelines of the places I visit.

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    Victor Clairmont

    So the first part, is a good fact check.

    The uh, second part.....even if were are talking about passports....

    Uh...

    It’s clearly open season on the border. They are pouring through since the remain in Mexico policy was lifted. I don’t think having or not having a passport is stoping anyone. The current administration is actually planning to build and reinforce certain parts of the border and its walls (who would have thought Biden would be building the wall?) because it’s so bad....

    I mean....there are pictures and videos.

    It’s really bad and we’re at a 15 year high, and it keeps coming.

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  3. Michael

    Another fact check fail.

    Once again, Khaya only cites February statistics and does not mention the amount of unaccompanied minors and people in family units being allowed into the general US population pending an asylum hearing.

    As per NR's Jim Geraghty from 4/6/21...

    In January, U.S. Customs and Border Protection encountered more than 78,000 individuals attempting to cross the southwestern border, and 5,694 were unaccompanied minors. In February — a shorter month — that number jumped to more than 96,000, with about 9,200 unaccompanied minors. And last month, according to preliminary data, authorities caught more than 171,000 migrants at the border, — the highest monthly total in two decades — including about 19,000 unaccompanied migrant children.

    You may recall that President Biden declared in his press conference last month, “It happens every single solitary year. There is a significant increase in the number of people coming to the border in the winter months of January, February, March.” Except we don’t blow way past the previous records and all-time highs every year, and we don’t see the numbers nearly double from month to month.

    Yesterday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki offered this clear and illuminating answer about the rise in these figures:

    Well, first let me say that there have been numbers that have been reported out there. CBP has not released their final numbers; we expect that to happen later this week. And for full context, there are numbers that, when they release them, will be out, like you cited — some version of what you cited. But those are reflecting of people coming, and they — we should also be reflecting — and I hope I’m encouraging people to do this — people who are turned away. Because again, single adults, based on your own reporting and everyone’s reporting, continue to be — the vast majority continue to be turned away at the border.

    Single adults, perhaps, but not families. And overall, very few migrants get immediately turned away: “Although the Biden administration says its policy is to ‘expel’ families to Mexico under a pandemic health order, the most recent CBP data shows that only about 10 to 20 percent are being turned back. The rest are typically released into the United States with a notice to appear in court, even though Biden told reporters last week that the families ‘should all be going back.’”

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  4. Avatar photo
    Picov Andropov

    Sorry you guys have to put up with all this nonsense. Thanks again for what you do.

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