WINTERSET, Iowa – U.S. Senator Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, said she does not support the idea of COVID-19 vaccine passports.
According to multiple reports, the Biden Administration has worked with private companies to develop a set of standards for people to prove they received the COVID-19 vaccine in some form of credentials or passport. More companies say they will require proof of vaccination before they reopen for business.
“Multiple government agencies are engaged in conversations and planning, coordinated by the White House, as this kind of system will play a role in multiple aspects of life, including potentially the workforce,” CNN reported.
“We believe in choice and families choosing how to live their lives and whether they are vaccinated or not. So this is going to be an interesting topic for debate, I’m sure, as we move forward,” Ernst told The Iowa Torch during a stop at Big Rack Brew Haus near Winterset on her 99-county tour.
“I think it should be a family’s right to choose whether they’re vaccinated or not,” she added.
Ernst is hopeful there is enough Republican opposition to stop any potential legislation related to COVID-19 credentials.
“I think so. I would hope so. We’ll see how this goes and hopefully, we keep the filibuster in place because if we don’t, all heck is going to break loose,” she said.
Watch:
“Well, we’re going to provide guidance, just as we have, through the CDC. There’s currently an interagency process that is looking at many of the questions around vaccine verification. And that issue will touch many agencies as verification is an issue that will potentially touch many sectors of society, as you have certainly alluded to. That’s guidance we’ll provide,” she said during a press briefing on Monday.
Psaki said she would expect the private sector would drive the passport or whatever it is called, and the Biden Administration would focus on guidelines. She said there would not be a mandate requiring everyone to obtain a “single vaccination credential,” and there would not be a centralized federal database of those vaccinated.
However, guidance from the federal government could be a driver for a decentralized requirement.
Ernst reiterated her call for the U.S. government to be transparent about the amount of taxpayer money used at the Wuhan Institute of Virology and ban future funding of unregulated wet markets in Communist China after the World Health Organization released its report on the origins of the SARS-Co-V-2 virus.
The American people deserve an independent, scientific investigation into the origins of the novel coronavirus—not one that is influenced or controlled by the Communist Party of China, like this report was. In addition, as a watchdog of taxpayer money, I urge U.S. government agencies to publicly disclose the amount of American tax dollars that may have gone to research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology—as the law requires—and to permanently ban American taxpayer funding of ‘unregulated’ wet markets in Red China and elsewhere,” she said in a released statement late Monday afternoon.
