The U.S. government should set up a federal database to record every single American’s decision to receive, or not receive, the COVID-19 vaccination — and their status should be used to give some Americans privileges denied to others, according to CNN host Chris Cuomo.
The host pressed Dr. Anthony Fauci to set up a government-issued “vaccine passport” during the “Let’s Get After It” segment of Wednesday night’s “Cuomo Prime Time.”
Cuomo invited the president’s chief medical adviser to address “confusion” over the Biden administration’s newly relaxed CDC mask guidelines, which Fauci said “triggered an interpretation that we can now just throw away masks, which is obviously not the case.”
Fully vaccinated people would gladly follow the advice to shed their masks outside, said Cuomo, but people who have not been vaccinated “will cheat.”
“The fix here is something that has been studiously avoided by the administration,” Cuomo stated.
“You have to have a tracking mechanism. You have to have a vaccine passport. Otherwise, this will never work,” Cuomo said, because “there is no way to differentiate the vaccinated from the unvaccinated.”
“Why do [administration officials] avoid the passport?” Cuomo asked incredulously.
Fauci replied that, “if you, in fact, require a passport” on a national level, “you’re going to be discriminating against people, and putting people at a disadvantage.”
Denying unvaccinated people access to the public would amount to “essentially forcing them, in many respects” to get vaccinated, Fauci said.
“Why shouldn’t I get opportunities, as vaccinated, that you don’t get as unvaccinated?” Cuomo asked
“If you want to preference people who are vaccinated, you [have] got to give us a way to distinguish between those who are and those who aren’t,” he said.
“Why put it on everybody else?” asked Cuomo. “Why not do it centrally” at the federal level? “You guys have the best way to do it. You got the most data, the most manpower.”
Dr. Fauci responded, “Chris, I don’t have the answer for you.”
“Fauci doesn’t have the answer?” Cuomo said in mock disbelief.
Dr. Anthony Fauci says the source of confusion around masks stems from the CDC’s wish to acknowledge the fully vaccinated can safely forego masks indoors and out.
“That triggered an interpretation that we can now just throw away masks…which is obviously not the case.” pic.twitter.com/dplitj3AoH
— Cuomo Prime Time (@CuomoPrimeTime) May 20, 2021
Several CNN hosts and guests have endorsed the idea of a vaccine passport directly or indirectly.
CNN contributor Dr. Leana Wen, a public health expert and the former president of Planned Parenthood, told John Berman that the CDC should clarify “that if everybody is fully vaccinated, they can remove masks. You don’t need distancing in that environment, if there is proof of vaccination for everyone.” (Emphasis added.)
One week ago, I called on the CDC to offer a roadmap forward. Specifically, I wanted them to say that vaccinated people can be around others who are also vaccinated, and to set metrics tied to vaccination for when mask mandates can be lifted. The CDC went much further than this. pic.twitter.com/HLHjOckefM
— Leana Wen, M.D. (@DrLeanaWen) May 17, 2021
On Monday, Wen tweeted to CNN’s Jim Sciutto that the CDC should have stated: “Without vaccine verification, workplaces, stores, etc still need to keep mask mandates until X% of the community are vaccinated.”
Agree with you @jimsciutto. Not confusing on the individual level. The problem is how it applies to policies. If only the CDC added: Without vaccine verification, workplaces, stores, etc still need to keep mask mandates until X% of the community are vaccinated. https://t.co/hllZm6aTyQ
— Leana Wen, M.D. (@DrLeanaWen) May 18, 2021
But Cuomo’s remarks are the network’s clearest call for politicians to require people to carry government-issued medical papers — something not currently required for vaccinations against much deadlier diseases.
Any move toward vaccine mandates would face political, as well as constitutional, hurdles.
A Gallup poll released earlier this month revealed how divided Americans are over the issue. While a slim majority of those surveyed supported private-sector decisions to require proof of vaccination for a very few activities — but only due to overwhelming support among Democrats and liberals. Between 62% and 85% of Democrats welcomed a vaccine passport, while less than a majority of registered independents and Republicans support documentation of vaccines for any public activity.
“The use of government-mandated ‘passports’ does raise legal and constitutional questions involving equal access, privacy and a lack of uniform standards which may not survive likely court challenges,” noted Gallup.
As of the beginning of this month, seven states had already passed legislation prohibiting government agencies and/or private businesses from requiring people to provide proof of vaccination before accessing services. All seven states — which include Arizona, Florida, Idaho, Iowa, Montana, Texas, and Utah — are led by Republican governors.
Americans consider the idea of needing a federally issued document (which is not required of unvaccinated illegal aliens) a fearful development. “We are on the verge of East German-style ‘Show me your papers,’” said Fox News “Primetime” host Will Cain on Monday.
“The fight to control you, to Lord over you, [has] just begun,” Cain warned. “The Left is going to begin the push for vaccine mandates and vaccine passports.”
Will Cain won the 7 p.m. Eastern time slot on Monday, pulling in 1.6 million viewers. Cuomo drew 808,000 viewers that evening.
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Source: Dailywire
