Buttigieg says federal government supports rights of companies to implement vaccine passport

Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg said the federal government supports the rights of companies to implement a COVID-19 vaccine passport policy.

Buttigieg was asked by a Texas news outlet his opinion on Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) banning companies from requiring proof of vaccination before entering their business.

“If a company, a business wants to take steps to keep their workers and their passengers safe, I would think that, from a government perspective, we want to do everything we can to encourage that,” Buttigieg told KDFW Fox 4 on Monday. “And that’s certainly our view at the federal level.”

The Biden administration has repeatedly said vaccine passports won’t be implemented at the federal level but has not discouraged individual companies from making the personal choice of implementing one. 

Many Republican-led states have passed laws that take away a company’s ability to choose if it wants to implement a vaccine passport at its establishment.

Vaccine passports are being used in other countries, especially for travel.

The European Union has implemented vaccine passports so fully vaccinated people can travel freely throughout the EU without having to quarantine or continually get tested.

New York and California have also set up systems for vaccine passports where residents can prove their vaccination status using a QR code, although few businesses in the states are requiring it.