The General Assembly of Pennsylvania approved legislation that would preserve medical freedoms for Pennsylvanians by prohibiting the use of vaccine passports and limiting the powers of the Department of Health, but it was vetoed today by Gov. Tom Wolf.
The bill’s primary sponsor, state Sen. Kristin Phillips-Hill, a Republican and chair of the Senate Communications and Technology Committee told The Epoch Times: “This bill is mainly to protect the privacy of personal information, and it assures your freedom as a citizen of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, that the government is not going to restrict your ability to live your daily lives.”
Senate Bill 618 would ban the state as well as a county, a municipality from requiring proof of COVID-19 vaccination. It would prohibit a school district, any college, or university from requiring proof of vaccination if that school receives any type of state subsidy. The bill also would prohibit the expenditure of tax dollars to create an electronic vaccine tracking system. Finally, the bill would limit the Secretary of Health in Pennsylvania from imposing unilateral restrictions.
Wolf, a Democrat, stated that Senate Bill 618 would severely limit medical providers and the public from having access to vital information on vaccination rates and vaccine efficacy.
This bill would ban the state from utilizing taxpayer resources to develop any type of smartphone app. Phillips-Hill noticed that throughout this pandemic, Pennsylvania has followed New York’s lead on many mitigation strategies.
New York officials introduced the Excelsior Pass app earlier this year as the country’s first government-issued vaccine passport, which provides digital proof of COVID-19 vaccination or negative test results. “They spent about $2.5 million of taxpayers’ money there to create that new platform,” Phillips-Hill said. – READ MORE
Listen to the insightful Thomas Paine Podcast Below --