Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Friday said the United States is taking a “very close look” at requiring vaccine passports for international travel.
The DHS boss indicated that the move would require government authorities to comply with equal access, in accordance with President Joe Biden’s principles of “diversity, equity, and inclusion.”
“We’re taking a very close look at that,” Mayorkas said of the shot requirements on ABC News’s Good Morning America. “One of our principles that has guided us throughout this pandemic is the value of diversity, equity, and inclusion and making sure that any passport that we provide for vaccinations is accessible to all and that no one is disenfranchised.”
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DHS later told the Washington Examiner that it has no plans to create a “federal vaccinations database” or require “everyone to obtain a single vaccination credential.”
“We’ve always said we’re looking at how we can ensure Americans traveling abroad have a quick and easy way to enter other countries,” a spokesperson said in an email. “That’s what the Secretary was referring to; ensuring that all U.S. travelers will be able to easily meet any anticipated foreign country entry requirements. There will be no federal vaccinations database and no federal mandate requiring everyone to obtain a single vaccination credential.”
On ABC, Mayorkas said the federal mask mandate for airline crew and passengers will remain in effect “until mid-September.”
“The mask mandate is a federal mandate in airports and on airplanes, and that’s gonna hold true probably until mid-September,” he said.
If the country were to implement a vaccine passport effort, it would join the European Union and several nations in Asia that have been working to create systems to be used on mobile phones to verify inoculations.
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A total of 290,724,607 vaccine doses have been administered so far throughout the U.S. out of 361,250,445 that have been distributed.
