No Vaccine Passports Act

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1932 To protect individual liberty, ensure privacy, and prohibit discrimination with respect to the vaccination status of individuals, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 27, 2021 Mr. CRUZ (for himself, Mr. BRAUN, and Ms. LUMMIS) introduced the fol- lowing bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions A BILL To protect individual liberty, ensure privacy, and prohibit discrimination with respect to the vaccination status of individuals, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 3 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 4 ‘‘No Vaccine Passports Act’’. 5 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 6 this Act is as follows: 7 Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. Sec. 2. Findings. Sec. 3. Severability. VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:32 Jun 15, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6211 E:\BILLS\S1932.IS S1932 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1932 IS TITLE I—GENERAL PROVISIONS Subtitle A—Health Information Privacy Protections Sec. 101. Prohibition on establishment of Federal vaccine passports and track- ing of individuals. Sec. 102. Vaccine status protections under HIPAA privacy regulations. Subtitle B—Consent to Vaccination Sec. 111. Vaccinations. TITLE II—PROHIBITION OF DISCRIMINATION BASED ON VACCINATION STATUS Subtitle A—Nondiscrimination in Employment Sec. 201. Definitions. Sec. 202. Discrimination prohibited. Sec. 203. Defenses. Sec. 204. Remedies and enforcement. Subtitle B—Nondiscrimination in Public Accommodation Sec. 211. Definitions. Sec. 212. Prohibition of discrimination by places of public accommodation. Sec. 213. Prohibition of discrimination in specified public transportation serv- ices provided by private entities. Sec. 214. Exemptions for private clubs and religious organizations. Sec. 215. Enforcement. Sec. 216. Effective date. Subtitle C—Nondiscrimination by a Public Entity and Access to Federal Services Sec. 221. Nondiscrimination by a public entity. Sec. 222. Access to Federal services. SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 1 Congress finds as follows: 2 (1) In December 2019, reports began circu- 3 lating that hospitals in Wuhan, China were seeing 4 cases of a pneumonia-like respiratory illness of un- 5 known origins. 6 (2) On December 31, 2019, an automated 7 translation of a Chinese media report about a novel 8 respiratory outbreak was posted to ProMED, one of 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:32 Jun 15, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1932.IS S1932 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1932 IS the largest public emerging disease and outbreak re- 1 porting systems used to promote communication 2 among infectious disease specialists, including sci- 3 entists, physicians, veterinarians, epidemiologists, 4 and public health professionals. 5 (3) The ProMED posting prompted the World 6 Health Organization (WHO) to instruct its China 7 Country Office to request verification of the out- 8 break from the communist government of the Peo- 9 ple’s Republic of China. 10 (4) In response to the WHO-prompted inquiry, 11 the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission issued its 12 first public statement on the outbreak, saying it had 13 identified 27 cases. 14 (5) On January 3, 2020, in what is clear con- 15 duct by the Chinese government to cover up the ori- 16 gins and dangers posed by the outbreak, Dr. Li 17 Wenliang, a physician at Wuhan Central Hospital, 18 was reprimanded by local police in the Public Secu- 19 rity Bureau for spreading allegedly ‘‘false state- 20 ments’’ about the outbreak online. 21 (6) On January 3, 2020, the Chinese Center for 22 Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC) Direc- 23 tor-General Gao Fu told the United States Centers 24 for Disease Control and Prevention (United States 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:32 Jun 15, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1932.IS S1932 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1932 IS CDC) Director Robert Redfield about a pneumonia 1 outbreak in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. 2 (7) On January 6, 2020, the United States De- 3 partment of Health and Human Services (HHS) 4 Secretary Alex M. Azar II and United States CDC 5 Director Redfield offered to send United States 6 CDC experts to China, and United States CDC 7 issued a ‘‘Watch Level 1 Alert’’ for Wuhan, meaning 8 that the CDC recognized a heightened risk for trav- 9 elers, cautioning travelers to use health precautions 10 when traveling to areas in China. 11 (8) On January 11, 2020, a team led by Pro- 12 fessor Yong-zhen Zhang of Fudan University in 13 Shanghai posted the genetic sequence of the novel 14 virus on an open-access platform, sharing it with the 15 world. 16 (9) On January 14, 2020, the WHO tweeted, 17 ‘‘Preliminary investigations conducted by the Chi- 18 nese authorities have found no clear evidence of 19 human-to-human transmission of the novel 20 coronavirus (2019–nCoV) identified in Wuhan, 21 China’’. The WHO’s assertion has been proven false 22 and completely contrary to medical science given 23 that there have been nearly 163,000,000 cases of in- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:32 Jun 15, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1932.IS S1932 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1932 IS fection worldwide, resulting in more than 3,380,000 1 deaths. 2 (10) On January 20, 2020, China confirmed 3 person-to-person transmission of the novel 4 coronavirus and infections among medical workers. 5 (11) On January 21, 2020, the United States 6 CDC announced the first COVID–19 case in the 7 United States. 8 (12) On January 30, 2020, WHO Director- 9 General Tedros declared the epidemic a Public 10 Health Emergency of International Concern, and 11 President Donald J. Trump announced the forma- 12 tion of the President’s Coronavirus Task Force. In 13 a statement from the WHO regarding the second 14 meeting of its International Health Regulations 15 (2005) Emergency Committee regarding the out- 16 break of novel coronavirus (2019–nCoV), the Com- 17 mittee specifically did ‘‘not recommend any travel or 18 trade restriction based on the current information 19 available’’. 20 (13) On January 31 2020, President Trump 21 suspended entry into the United States of most for- 22 eigners who were physically present in mainland 23 China during the preceding 14-day period, effective 24 February 2, 2020, and Secretary Azar declared a 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:32 Jun 15, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1932.IS S1932 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1932 IS public health emergency for the United States to aid 1 response to the novel coronavirus. 2 (14) On February 1, 2020, then-presidential 3 candidate Joe Biden recklessly downplayed the risk 4 of the virus, suggesting in a tweet that President 5 Trump’s efforts to limit the spread of the virus were 6 nothing more than ‘‘hysteria, xenophobia, and fear- 7 mongering’’. 8 (15) Numerous individuals criticized these trav- 9 el restrictions. When asked ‘‘if you had to, would 10 you close down the borders?’’ to stop the spread of 11 coronavirus, Senator Bernie Sanders said, ‘‘no’’. 12 When asked about these travel restrictions, Rep- 13 resentative Nancy Pelosi stated, ‘‘[a]ctually tens of 14 thousands of people were allowed in from China, it 15 wasn’t as it was described as this great moment’’. 16 WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom 17 Ghebreyesus was reported to say that widespread 18 travel bans and restrictions were not needed to stop 19 the outbreak and could ‘‘have the effect of increas- 20 ing fear and stigma, with little public health ben- 21 efit’’. Reportedly, Representative Ami Bera stated 22 that the travel ban ‘‘probably doesn’t make sense’’ 23 since the outbreak had already spread to several 24 other countries, that such measures were causing an 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:32 Jun 15, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1932.IS S1932 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 1932 IS antagonistic relationship with the Chinese, and such 1 mandatory quarantines ‘‘may be overkill’’. 2 (16) Health experts have since noted that the 3 early United States restrictions imposed on travelers 4 from China saved American lives. Former CDC di- 5 rector Dr. Tom Frieden noted that ‘‘[t]he travel ban 6 with China made a difference . . . It resulted in a 7 significant delay in the number of people coming in 8 with infection and because of that, that bought time 9 in the U.S. to better prepare.’’. While testifying be- 10 fore the House of Representatives, Dr. Anthony 11 Fauci was asked if he believed that the travel re- 12 strictions saved lives, to which Dr. Fauci answered, 13 ‘‘yes, I do’’. 14 (17) On February 26, 2020, United States 15 CDC confirmed a case of COVID–19 in California 16 in a person who reportedly did not have relevant 17 travel history or exposure to another known patient 18 with COVID–19. 19 (18) On February 29, 2020, United States 20 CDC reported the first COVID–19 death in United 21 States, though later public reports indicated that the 22 first death from COVID–19 may have been weeks 23 earlier. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:32 Jun 15, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1932.IS S1932 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 1932 IS (19) In a 60 Minutes interview posted on 1 March 8, 2020, Dr. Anthony Fauci stated that 2 ‘‘right now in the United States, people should not 3 be walking around with masks . . . there’s no rea- 4 son to be walking around with a mask. When you’re 5 in the middle of an outbreak wearing a mask might 6 make people feel a little bit better, and it might even 7 block a droplet, but it’s not providing the perfect 8 protection that people think that it is. And often, 9 there are unintended consequences, people keep fid- 10 dling with the masks, and they keep touching their 11 face . . . But, when you think masks, you should 12 think of healthcare providers needing them and peo- 13 ple who are ill. The people who, when you look at 14 the films of foreign countries and you see eight-five 15 percent of the people wearing masks, that’s fine. 16 That’s fine. I’m not against it. If you want to do it, 17 that’s fine . . . It could lead to a shortage of masks 18 for the people who really need it.’’. 19 (20) On April 3, 2020, United States CDC up- 20 dated its guidance on facial coverings, recom- 21 mending that Americans wear facial coverings in 22 public settings and especially when social distancing 23 measures are difficult to maintain. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:32 Jun 15, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1932.IS S1932 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •S 1932 IS (21) On May 15, 2020, the Trump administra- 1 tion announced the establishment of Operation Warp 2 Speed, a public-private partnership to expedite the 3 timeline for development, large scale manufacturing, 4 and delivery of a safe and effective COVID–19 vac- 5 cine to the American public. The initial goal of the 6 project was to develop at least 1 vaccine and begin 7 administering it to Americans before the end of 8 2020. As reported on BioCentury, Dr. Anthony 9 Fauci noted that the fastest a vaccine might be 10 ready for use in an emergency would be 1 year, al- 11 though the process could take up to 2 years. Before 12 the Senate on March 3, 2020, Dr. Fauci stated that 13 the process would likely take at least 1 to 11⁄2 years 14 to have a vaccine that could be administered to 15 American persons. Some, such as the analytics firm 16 Clarivate, concluded that it might take at least 5 17 years for the leading vaccine candidates, like 18 Moderna, to complete the development process 19 through full regulatory approval. 20 (22) Operation Warp Speed and other govern- 21 ment actions sped COVID–19 vaccine development 22 by enabling typical vaccine development steps to be 23 taken simultaneously with manufacturing and dis- 24 tribution planning. As part of these actions, the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:32 Jun 15, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1932.IS S1932 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 10 •S 1932 IS Federal Government made investments in critical 1 manufacturing capacity, giving pharmaceutical com- 2 panies confidence that if they invested in developing 3 a vaccine, once the vaccine received authorization 4 from the Food and Drug Administration, these com- 5 panies would be able to immediately begin distrib- 6 uting the vaccine. 7 (23) Despite efforts to speed vaccine develop- 8 ment to address the COVID–19 pandemic, the emer- 9 gency use authorization (EUA) process utilized by 10 the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) appears 11 to have met rigorous safety and efficacy standards. 12 (24) On July 14, 2020, United States CDC 13 issued stronger recommendations to wear masks as 14 a strategy for preventing the spread of COVID–19. 15 United States CDC Director Robert Redfield, in a 16 news release from the agency, identified masks as 17 ‘‘one of the most powerful weapons we have to slow 18 and stop the spread of the virus’’. 19 (25) On December 11, 2020, the FDA issued 20 the first EUA for a vaccine for the prevention of 21 COVID–19 in individuals 16 years of age and older. 22 The EUA allowed the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID–19 23 Vaccine to be distributed in the United States. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:32 Jun 15, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1932.IS S1932 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 11 •S 1932 IS (26) On December 18, 2020, the FDA issued 1 an EUA for the second vaccine for the prevention of 2 COVID–19 in individuals 16 years of age and older. 3 The EUA allowed the Moderna COVID–19 Vaccine 4 to be distributed in the United States for use in in- 5 dividuals 18 years of age and older. 6 (27) On February 27, 2021, the FDA issued an 7 EUA for the third vaccine for the prevention of 8 COVID–19. The EUA allowed the Janssen COVID– 9 19 Vaccine to be distributed in the United States for 10 use in individuals 18 years of age and older. 11 (28) Because of the hard work of countless 12 Americans, this public-private partnership, and the 13 funding and support from Congress, multiple safe 14 and effective COVID–19 vaccines have been, and are 15 still being, developed and manufactured, and, as of 16 May 16, 2021, about 273,000,000 vaccine doses had 17 been administered in the United States. 18 (29) Despite the successful development and 19 rollout of the current COVID–19 vaccines, it is not 20 fully known whether th [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]