Washington, D.C. – Congresswoman Nancy Mace (SC-01) and members of the South Carolina congressional delegation recently penned a letter strongly opposing the use of vaccine passports in the state.
“We ask that you do everything in your power under the law to prohibit ‘vaccine passports’ from being required to enter, enjoy and move about our beautiful state,” the lawmakers wrote to Gov. Henry McMaster. “The use of ‘vaccine passports’ to restrict commerce is a threat to both personal liberty and medical privacy. We are committed to fighting this violation at the federal level, and we urge you to do the same by working with Attorney General Alan Wilson at the state level.”
Joining Mace on the letter are Reps. Joe Wilson (SC-02), Ralph Norman (SC-05), Jeff Duncan (SC-03), and William R. Timmons, IV (SC-04).
Rep. Mace COVID Passport Letter To Governor McMaster Text
Dear Governor McMaster,
We write you today with grave concerns regarding the potential mandate of so-called “vaccine passports” in the nation and possibly in our state. Today we ask that you do everything in your power under the law to prohibit “vaccine passports” from being required to enter, enjoy, and move about our beautiful state.
The use of “vaccine passports” to restrict commerce is a threat to both personal liberty and medical privacy. We are committed to fighting this violation at the federal level, and we urge you to do the same by working with Attorney General Wilson at the state level.
Just as, under your leadership, South Carolina held the line and recognized that the government had no authority to force churches to close during the pandemic, we now ask that South Carolina continue to lead by example by preventing the mandate of a “vaccine passport” to restrict South Carolinians from being able to engage in normal, everyday activities.
We believe the mandate of a “vaccine passport” to engage in commerce constitutes a violation of the privacy of our citizens, and specifically a likely violation of the federal HIPAA law. Perversely, we believe the privacy concerns of a “vaccine passport” could create more polarization around the COVID-19 vaccine rather than encouraging its use, impeding efforts to achieve herd immunity and prolonging the pandemic.
South Carolina has an opportunity to lead the way in understanding how to manage the pandemic while keeping our economy open and protecting the liberties of our people. As we see it, “vaccine passports” are a terrible approach to managing this pandemic or the economy, and instead will violate the rights of our citizens. We urge you to fight against this with every tool of state government, including preventing state agencies from cooperating or coordinating with the federal government on the use of potential “vaccine passports.”
Thank you for your continued leadership of our state.
Sincerely,
Jeff Duncan
Ralph Norman
Nancy Mace
Joe Wilson
William R. Timmons IV
