Federal

No Vaccine Passports Act

Source: Congress.gov · 13,629 words in original text

What This Bill Does

This bill aims to prevent the federal government from creating vaccine tracking systems or "vaccine passports" that would monitor people based on their COVID-19 vaccination status. It also prohibits discrimination against individuals based on whether they have received a COVID-19 vaccine in employment, public businesses, public services, and federal programs. ##

Who It Affects

- Federal employees and contractors - Private employers with 15 or more employees - Businesses that serve the public (restaurants, stores, transportation) - State and local government agencies - Healthcare providers and insurers - Anyone who received a COVID-19 vaccine with emergency authorization ##

Key Provisions

- No federal money can be used to create or support any vaccine passport system or tracking database that monitors vaccinated individuals or limits their freedom of movement (Sec. 101) - Federal agencies must destroy all COVID-19 vaccination data they have received within 30 days and report to Congress that they did so (Sec. 101) - It is illegal to require someone to receive a vaccine that only has emergency authorization (temporary approval) without their consent, or to vaccinate minors or people unable to consent without permission from a parent, guardian, or authorized person (Sec. 111) - Employers cannot discriminate against qualified employees based on vaccination status in hiring, firing, pay, or working conditions, and must provide reasonable accommodations like remote work or physical distancing instead (Sec. 202) - Businesses open to the public cannot deny service, provide unequal service, or require proof of vaccination based on vaccination status (Sec. 212) - Anyone who publicly discloses someone's COVID-19 vaccination status without written permission can be fined up to $25,000 per disclosure (Sec. 111) - States cannot require voters to show proof of vaccination in order to vote (Sec. 221) ##

What Changes

If this bill becomes law, federal agencies would be required to delete all COVID-19 vaccination records they possess. Employers and public businesses would not be allowed to ask about vaccination status or require vaccine proof as a condition of employment or service. The federal government could not issue vaccine passports or require them for access to federal property or services. Individuals could request that covered entities delete their vaccination records. State and local governments could not use vaccine passport requirements for voting. ##

Important Definitions

- **Vaccine Passport**: A standardized document or system that certifies a person's COVID-19 vaccination status to a third party - **Vaccination Status**: Either a person's choice to receive or not receive a COVID-19 vaccine, or their status regarding whether they have or can produce proof of vaccination - **Covered Entity**: Under employment rules, any employer with 15 or more employees; under public accommodation rules, any business that serves the public - **Reasonable Accommodation**: Job changes like remote work, modified schedules, reassignment, or wearing masks and protective equipment; or physical distancing for unvaccinated people working around vulnerable individuals - **Informed Consent**: A person's right to be fully informed about medical treatment and to voluntarily choose whether to receive it - **Protected Health Information**: Any health data that identifies an individual's vaccination status ##

Effective Date

The public accommodation discrimination protections become effective 90 days after the law is signed (Sec. 216). Most other provisions take effect upon enactment. The emergency authorization vaccine requirement restriction expires 5 years after enactment (Sec. 111).

II 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 181 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 JANUARY 31, 2023 Mr. CRUZ introduced the following 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. TITLE I—GENERAL PROVISIONS VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:29 Feb 14, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6211 E:\BILLS\S181.IS S181 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 2 •S 181 IS Subtitle A—Health Information Privacy Protections Sec. 101. Prohibition on establishment of Federal vaccine passports and track- ing of individuals. Sec. 102. Vaccine status protections under HIPAA privacy regulations. Subtitle B—Consent to Vaccination Sec. 111. Vaccinations. TITLE II—PROHIBITION OF DISCRIMINATION BASED ON VACCINATION STATUS Subtitle A—Nondiscrimination in Employment Sec. 201. Definitions. Sec. 202. Discrimination prohibited. Sec. 203. Defenses. Sec. 204. Remedies and enforcement. Subtitle B—Nondiscrimination in Public Accommodation Sec. 211. Definitions. Sec. 212. Prohibition of discrimination by places of public accommodation. Sec. 213. Prohibition of discrimination in specified public transportation serv- ices provided by private entities. Sec. 214. Exemptions for private clubs and religious organizations. Sec. 215. Enforcement. Sec. 216. Effective date. Subtitle C—Nondiscrimination by a Public Entity and Access to Federal Services Sec. 221. Nondiscrimination by a public entity. Sec. 222. Access to Federal services. SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 1 Congress finds as follows: 2 (1) In December 2019, reports began circu- 3 lating that hospitals in Wuhan, China, were seeing 4 cases of a pneumonia-like respiratory illness of un- 5 known origins. 6 (2) On December 31, 2019, an automated 7 translation of a Chinese media report about a novel 8 respiratory outbreak was posted to ProMED, one of 9 the largest public emerging disease and outbreak re- 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:29 Feb 14, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S181.IS S181 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 3 •S 181 IS porting systems used to promote communication 1 among infectious disease specialists, including sci- 2 entists, physicians, veterinarians, epidemiologists, 3 and public health professionals. 4 (3) The ProMED posting prompted the World 5 Health Organization (referred to in this section as 6 ‘‘WHO’’) to instruct its China Country Office to re- 7 quest verification of the outbreak from the com- 8 munist government of the People’s Republic of 9 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 (referred to in this 23 section as ‘‘China CDC’’) Director-General Gao Fu 24 told the United States Centers for Disease Control 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:29 Feb 14, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S181.IS S181 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 4 •S 181 IS and Prevention (referred to in this section as 1 ‘‘United States CDC’’) Director Robert Redfield 2 about a pneumonia outbreak in Wuhan, Hubei Prov- 3 ince, China. 4 (7) On January 6, 2020, the Secretary of 5 Health and Human Services, Alex M. Azar II, and 6 the United States CDC Director Redfield offered to 7 send United States CDC experts to China and the 8 United States CDC issued a ‘‘Watch Level 1 Alert’’ 9 for Wuhan, meaning that the United States CDC 10 recognized a heightened risk for travelers, cautioning 11 travelers to use health precautions when traveling to 12 areas in China. 13 (8) On January 11, 2020, a team led by Pro- 14 fessor Yong-Zhen Zhang of Fudan University in 15 Shanghai posted the genetic sequence of the novel 16 virus on an open-access platform, sharing it with the 17 world. 18 (9) On January 14, 2020, the WHO tweeted, 19 ‘‘Preliminary investigations conducted by the Chi- 20 nese authorities have found no clear evidence of 21 human-to-human transmission of the novel 22 coronavirus (2019–nCoV) identified in Wuhan, 23 China’’. The WHO’s assertion has been proven false 24 and completely contrary to medical science given 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:29 Feb 14, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S181.IS S181 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 5 •S 181 IS that there have been nearly 163,000,000 cases of in- 1 fection worldwide, resulting in more than 3,380,000 2 deaths. 3 (10) On January 20, 2020, China confirmed 4 person-to-person transmission of the novel 5 coronavirus and infections among medical workers. 6 (11) On January 21, 2020, the United States 7 CDC announced the first COVID–19 case in the 8 United States. 9 (12) On January 30, 2020, WHO Director- 10 General Tedros declared the epidemic a Public 11 Health Emergency of International Concern, and 12 President Donald J. Trump announced the forma- 13 tion of the President’s Coronavirus Task Force. In 14 a statement from the WHO regarding the second 15 meeting of its International Health Regulations 16 (2005) Emergency Committee regarding the out- 17 break of novel coronavirus (2019–nCoV), the Com- 18 mittee specifically did ‘‘not recommend any travel or 19 trade restriction based on the current information 20 available’’. 21 (13) On January 31 2020, President Trump 22 suspended entry into the United States of most for- 23 eigners who were physically present in mainland 24 China during the preceding 14-day period, effective 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:29 Feb 14, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S181.IS S181 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 6 •S 181 IS February 2, 2020, and Secretary Azar declared a 1 public health emergency for the United States to aid 2 response to the novel coronavirus. 3 (14) On February 1, 2020, then-Presidential 4 candidate Joe Biden recklessly downplayed the risk 5 of the virus, suggesting in a tweet that President 6 Trump’s efforts to limit the spread of the virus were 7 nothing more than ‘‘hysteria, xenophobia, and fear- 8 mongering’’. 9 (15) Numerous individuals criticized these trav- 10 el restrictions. When asked ‘‘if you had to, would 11 you close down the borders?’’ to stop the spread of 12 coronavirus, Senator Bernie Sanders said, ‘‘no’’. 13 When asked about these travel restrictions, Rep- 14 resentative Nancy Pelosi stated, ‘‘actually tens of 15 thousands of people were allowed in from China, it 16 wasn’t as it was described as this great moment’’. 17 WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom 18 Ghebreyesus was reported to say that widespread 19 travel bans and restrictions were not needed to stop 20 the outbreak and could ‘‘have the effect of increas- 21 ing fear and stigma, with little public health ben- 22 efit’’. Reportedly, Representative Ami Bera stated 23 that the travel ban ‘‘probably doesn’t make sense’’ 24 since the outbreak had already spread to several 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:29 Feb 14, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S181.IS S181 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 7 •S 181 IS other countries, that such measures were causing an 1 antagonistic relationship with the Chinese, and such 2 mandatory quarantines ‘‘may be overkill’’. 3 (16) Health experts have since noted that the 4 early United States restrictions imposed on travelers 5 from China saved American lives. Former United 6 States CDC director Dr. Tom Frieden noted that 7 ‘‘the travel ban with China made a difference. . . It 8 resulted in a significant delay in the number of peo- 9 ple coming in with infection and because of that, 10 that bought time in the U.S. to better prepare.’’. 11 (17) On February 26, 2020, the United States 12 CDC confirmed a case of COVID–19 in California 13 in a person who reportedly did not have relevant 14 travel history or exposure to another known patient 15 with COVID–19. 16 (18) On February 29, 2020, the United States 17 CDC reported the first COVID–19 death in United 18 States, though later public reports indicated that the 19 first death from COVID–19 may have been weeks 20 earlier. 21 (19) In a 60 Minutes interview posted on 22 March 8, 2020, Dr. Anthony Fauci stated that 23 ‘‘right now in the United States, people should not 24 be walking around with masks . . . there’s no rea- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:29 Feb 14, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S181.IS S181 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 8 •S 181 IS son to be walking around with a mask. When you’re 1 in the middle of an outbreak wearing a mask might 2 make people feel a little bit better, and it might even 3 block a droplet, but it’s not providing the perfect 4 protection that people think that it is. And often, 5 there are unintended consequences, people keep fid- 6 dling with the masks, and they keep touching their 7 face. . . But, when you think masks, you should 8 think of healthcare providers needing them and peo- 9 ple who are ill. The people who, when you look at 10 the films of foreign countries and you see 85 percent 11 of the people wearing masks, that’s fine. That’s fine. 12 I’m not against it. If you want to do it, that’s fine 13 . . . It could lead to a shortage of masks for the 14 people who really need it.’’. 15 (20) On May 15, 2020, the Trump administra- 16 tion announced the establishment of Operation Warp 17 Speed, a public-private partnership to expedite the 18 timeline for development, large-scale manufacturing, 19 and delivery of a safe and effective COVID–19 vac- 20 cine to the American public. The initial goal of the 21 project was to develop at least 1 vaccine and begin 22 administering it to Americans before the end of 23 2020. As reported on BioCentury, Dr. Anthony 24 Fauci noted that the fastest a vaccine might be 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:29 Feb 14, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S181.IS S181 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 9 •S 181 IS ready for use in an emergency would be 1 year, al- 1 though the process could take up to 2 years. Before 2 the Senate on March 3, 2020, Dr. Fauci stated that 3 the process would likely take at least 1 to 11⁄2 years 4 to have a vaccine that could be administered to 5 American persons. Some, such as the analytics firm 6 Clarivate, concluded that it might take at least 5 7 years for the leading vaccine candidates, like 8 Moderna, to complete the development process 9 through full regulatory approval. 10 (21) Operation Warp Speed and other govern- 11 ment actions sped COVID–19 vaccine development 12 by enabling typical vaccine development steps to be 13 taken simultaneously with manufacturing and dis- 14 tribution planning. As part of these actions, the 15 Federal Government made investments in critical 16 manufacturing capacity, giving pharmaceutical com- 17 panies confidence that if they invested in developing 18 a vaccine, once the vaccine received authorization 19 from the Food and Drug Administration, these com- 20 panies would be able to immediately begin distrib- 21 uting the vaccine. 22 (22) On July 14, 2020, the United States CDC 23 issued stronger recommendations to wear masks as 24 a strategy for preventing the spread of COVID–19. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:29 Feb 14, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S181.IS S181 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 10 •S 181 IS United States CDC Director Robert Redfield, in a 1 news release from the agency, identified masks as 2 ‘‘one of the most powerful weapons we have to slow 3 and stop the spread of the virus’’. 4 (23) On December 11, 2020, the Food and 5 Drug Administration issued the first emergency use 6 authorization (referred to in this section as ‘‘EUA’’) 7 for a vaccine for the prevention of COVID–19 in in- 8 dividuals 16 years of age and older. The EUA al- 9 lowed the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID–19 Vaccine to be 10 distributed in the United States. 11 (24) By June 2022, subsequent modifications 12 to the EUA by the Food and Drug Administration 13 expanded the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID–19 vaccine 14 application to include eligibility for individuals from 15 6 months of age and older. 16 (25) On December 18, 2020, the Food and 17 Drug Administration issued an EUA for the second 18 vaccine for the prevention of COVID–19 in individ- 19 uals 16 years of age and older. The EUA allowed 20 the Moderna COVID–19 Vaccine to be distributed in 21 the United States for use in individuals 18 years of 22 age and older. 23 (26) By June 2022, subsequent modifications 24 to the EUA by the Food and Drug Administration 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:29 Feb 14, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S181.IS S181 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 11 •S 181 IS expanded the Moderna COVID–19 vaccine to include 1 eligibility for individuals from 6 months of age and 2 above. 3 (27) On February 27, 2021, the Food and 4 Drug Administration issued an EUA for the third 5 vaccine for the prevention of COVID–19. The EUA 6 allowed the Janssen COVID–19 vaccine to be dis- 7 tributed in the United States for use in individuals 8 18 years of age and older. 9 (28) On July 13, 2022, the Food and Drug Ad- 10 ministration issued an EUA for the fourth vaccine 11 for the prevention of COVID–19 in individuals 18 12 and older. The EUA was further expanded to in- 13 clude individuals 12 years of age and older. The 14 EUA allowed the Novavax COVID–19 Vaccine, 15 Adjuvanted to be distributed in the United States 16 for use in individuals 12 years and older. 17 (29) On August 23, 2021, the Food and Drug 18 Administration approved the first COVID–19 vac- 19 cine, Pfizer-BioNTech’s Comirnaty (COVID–1 [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]

Important: This plain English summary was generated by AI and is provided for informational purposes only. It is not legal advice. Always consult the official bill text on Congress.gov or a qualified attorney for legal matters.