ATLANTA — Governor Brian Kemp issued an executive order Tuesday prohibiting state entities from requiring COVID-19 vaccine passports.
Vaccine passports are typically a paper or digital document that verifies whether someone has been vaccinated or recently tested negative for COVID-19. They are in use in Israel and under development in parts of Europe.
The executive order states that no vaccine passport will be required for people to enter Georgia.
It also states that employers cannot have different rules for employees based on the individual's vaccinated status. The only exception is if the rules are based on an "honor-code system and no proof of vaccination is required."
"Today's executive order makes clear that vaccine passports will not be utilized in state government," Kemp stated. "While I continue to urge all Georgians to get vaccinated so we continue our momentum in putting the COVID-19 pandemic in the rearview, vaccination is a personal decision between each citizen and a medical professional - not state government.
The Georgia Department of Public Health's data, according to the order, won't be used by any private or public entity for a vaccine passport program.
President Joe Biden's administration has largely taken a hands-off approach on vaccine passports.
11Alive verified that vaccine passports do not violate the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, or HIPAA.
HIPAA established national standards for protecting personal medical information from being disclosed without a patient's consent. The federal law applies to "covered entities" like doctors, hospitals and insurance companies.
"All HIPAA really does is give you a right of access to your information," said Professor Nita Farahany, who specializes in the intersection of law, science and technology at Duke Law School.
Kemp previously spoke on his disapproval of vaccine passports on social media.
"I do not and will not support any kind of state-mandated vaccine passport," Kemp said in a tweet on April 6.
Supporters say the passports would allow inoculated people to more freely travel, shop, and dine. But Republicans portray them as a heavy-handed intrusion into personal freedom and private health choices.
Vaccine passports currently exist in only one state — a limited government partnership in New York with a private company. But that hasn’t stopped GOP lawmakers in a handful of states from rushing out legislative proposals to ban their use as a tool to restrict what people may do.
Material from the Associated Press contributed to this report.