Florida’s so-called vaccine passport ban falls short, says the head of a Central Florida nonprofit legal organization that advocates for medical freedom and is against mandatory vaccinations.
The bill (SB 2006) was signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis on May 3, just days after it cleared both the House and Senate.
It largely deals with emergency preparedness and state and local governmental authority during emergencies, and revises some of the duties of the “State Health Officer,” referring to the person who holds the post of Florida Surgeon General and Health Department Secretary.
It also prohibits businesses, government agencies and learning institutions from requiring patrons to show proof of vaccination or post-infection recovery from COVID-19 but doesn’t stop them from imposing screening protocols based on government guidelines to protect the public health.
Worse, says R. Shawn McBride, a DeLand lawyer and cofounder of the American Freedom of Information Institute, it preserves the state’s right to vaccinate anyone deemed a public health risk.
“It states on the one hand that no one can be forced away from general services in the state by not having COVID-19 vaccination proof, but it also states that the government has the right to force vaccinations,” he said.
“The most curious contradiction to the spirit of the bill is that it purposely reiterates the state’s ability to force vaccines onto the population,” he said. “In the worst possible scenario, the government can forcibly inject someone during a state of emergency by using police force, if necessary.”
A spokeswoman for the governor’s office said it doesn’t typically comment on issues posed by private lawyers outside the context of actual cases.
“Mr. McBride is entitled to express his legal opinions to whomever he chooses,” Christina Pushaw, DeSantis’ press secretary, said in an email to the USA TODAY Network-Florida.
Back in November, when federal approval of a vaccine was on the horizon, Gov. Ron DeSantis promised no Floridian would ever be forced to be vaccinated against COVID-19 even though state law permits the surgeon general to do just that during a public health emergency.
Rep. Anthony Sabatini, R-Howey-in-the-Hills, had filed a bill (HB 6003) that would have stripped the state of any power to require mandatory vaccinations. That bill died without being voted on.
McBride commended the Legislature and DeSantis for passing a law that prevents showing proof of vaccination, but said the law needs to go further to protect individuals against mandatory vaccinations, especially if the political winds should shift.
“It was labeled by many as a ‘vaccine passport ban’ which it is not,” he said. “Neither the word ‘passport’ nor ‘ban’ are even in the law.”
McBride and his organization want the Legislature to revisit the law and “close the loopholes, remove the state’s ability to force vaccines, and prohibit the open medical discrimination we are seeing already.”
He and his colleagues analyzed the law and said it is likely that businesses, governments and learning institutions could discriminate based on vaccination status.
“For example, an institution can require ‘screening’ to gain entry or services yet waive screening or other measures for vaccinated individuals,” he said.
After DeSantis signed the vaccine passport ban into law, Nova Southeastern University rescinded its requirement that all faculty, students and staff be vaccinated and replaced it with a voluntary proof of vaccination program.
The goal of the university is to get a minimum 80% voluntary vaccination rate to reopen its campuses back to pre-pandemic conditions. McBride said that could lead to excluding those who aren’t vaccinated from on-campus activities.
The law also doesn’t stop an employer from conditioning employment on vaccination status. After weeks of doing legal research, Palm Beach County Tax Collector Anne Gannon said employees will be required to get vaccinated to continue to work at her agency, unless they can prove they have a medical or religious exemption.
“For every person who gets COVID, it costs our business money and it gives us an inability to meet our customer needs,” Gannon told the Palm Beach Post. “I have a responsibility to protect my employees and the public.”
In fact, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has issued a ruling that employers do have the right to require their workers to be vaccinated as a condition of employment.
Also, health care providers and medical facilities can require the COVID-19 vaccine “for patients to receive medical care, thus denying Americans medical care,” McBride said.
While the law provides for fines of up to $5,000 for violating the ban on vaccine documentation, it doesn’t provide what’s known as a “private cause of action,” or right for individuals to sue if they believe they are wronged.
“So, unfortunately, if a citizen is improperly required to show vaccination proof, they would have to report it to the State Health Officer,” he said. “Will the State Health Officer enforce it? Who knows?”
For now, the organization is launching an awareness campaign to let the public know it doesn’t give them the protections they think it does, he said.