Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said this week the federal government should “encourage” the private sector to utilize vaccine passports.
“If a company, a business wants to take steps to keep their workers and their passengers safe, I would think that, from a government perspective, we want to do everything we can to encourage that,” Buttigieg told FOX 4 Monday.
“And that’s certainly our view at the federal level,” Fox News reported.
But a Department of Transportation spokesman told Fox News “the Biden administration does not support any form of government-mandated vaccine passport.”
Buttigieg has been consistent in his believe the private sector should be the enforcer.
During an April appearance on CNN, Buttigieg said a Biden administration would not mandate the use of vaccine passports, but would “support” private sector companies that make them a requirement to participate in daily life:
“We don’t view this as the role of the government, to create or mandate any kind of vaccine passport — but these technologies are there,” Buttigieg said.
“Private sector is working on them,” the transportation secretary added. “We’re interested in following that, providing any kind of technical advice or support where needed.”
Buttigieg said the Biden administration would make recommendations to airlines to make decisions about “what they think is right to protect their passengers, to protect their workers, and to build up that confidence in the safety of American travel.”
Some states, notably Florida, are banning the public and private sectors from using vaccine passports as a condition to do business or obtain a service, but that is not stopping entities from attempting to require them, anyway.
A Florida State University department required music therapy students to be vaccinated for the coronavirus prior to enrolling in courses, which the school later said was an error.
In a statement to Breitbart News, College of Music Dean Todd Queen said the email was sent to students because a course “includes practical educational experiences inside a local hospital,” and Queen said the email was “erroneously stating the course required a COVID-19 vaccination.”
“This information was incorrect. Neither FSU nor the hospital requires COVID-19 vaccination for students. The students enrolled in the course have been notified of the error,” Queen said. “FSU and the music therapy program respect all students’ rights to privacy and regret the error.”
“We have to fight woke institutions every day to ensure the protection of our rights,” Florida state Rep. Anthony Sabatini (R) told Breitbart News. “FSU did the right thing when they got caught. The truth is, we shouldn’t have to catch them at all.”
Kyle Olson is a reporter for Breitbart News. He is also host of “The Kyle Olson Show,” syndicated on Michigan radio stations on Saturdays–download full podcast episodes. Follow him on Parler.