SLO County board considers opposing ‘vaccine passports’ — that don’t exist yet in California
San Luis Obispo County supervisors on Tuesday will discuss sending a letter to California leaders formally opposing coronavirus vaccine passports — although such a program does not yet exist at the state or local level.
Supervisors will consider sending a letter to 6th District Assemblyman Kevin Kiley supporting AB 327, his bill banning public and private entities that receive state funds from verifying customers’ COVID-19 vaccine status “as a condition of receipt of any service or entrance to any place.”
The board will also consider adding this position to its legislative platform.
District 5 Supervisor Debbie Arnold proposed the measure after hearing hours of recorded public comments deriding vaccine verification during the board’s May 4 meeting, even though there was no item related to a passport program on the agenda.
“I think it would be effective in providing that choice for people and alleviating their concerns on mandated vaccine passports,” Arnold said during the meeting.
Supervisors anticipate ‘overwhelming’ amount of public comments
The supervisors voted 3-2 to put the letter on Tuesday’s agenda, with District 2 Supervisor Bruce Gibson and District 3 Supervisor Dawn Ortiz-Legg opposing the item.
Neither California nor San Luis Obispo County have vaccine passport programs to verify whether residents have received COVID-19 shots.
New York is currently the only state in the country with such a program, which is voluntary for residents.
District 4 Supervisor Lynn Compton ultimately voted in favor of discussing the prospect of sending the letter, but she warned Arnold the agenda item could prompt another lengthy public comment session.
“If you put this on the agenda for next week, you’re going to have all the same public comment next week that we had today, which was about five hours worth,” Compton said.
Gibson urged the board to oppose the letter, in part because he feared it would “overwhelm the next meeting.”
“I would point the board toward even a brief research on this bill (that) suggests it has no chance of passage,” Gibson said. “The bill itself is a little bit of a signal to certain culture warriors that we need to argue over this. It’s quite clear that this county is not intending to implement vaccine passports. Our opinion as a board means little in terms of how it influences the actions of the state.”
SLO County has ‘no intention’ of COVID vaccine passport program
During the May 4 meeting, county Public Health Officer Dr. Penny Borenstein said there seemed to be “somewhat of a misunderstanding with the community about a vote to be taken about vaccine passports.”
“At this time, there is no foresight coming from SLO County, or, in fact, I’ve not heard this at the state or federal level, of any intention to have that kind of documentation — a passport of sorts — to be in the community or take advantage of all the basic services that exist in the county or anywhere in our state or nation,” Borenstein said.
California doesn’t require businesses to obtain proof of customers’ COVID-19 vaccine status, but the state will allow some venues to increase their operating capacities if they’re able to show visitors either got their shots or have tested negative for the coronavirus, Borenstein said.
“We have no intention of developing any program or documents that would be considered a vaccine passport in SLO County,” she said. “I certainly hope many in the community will make the choice to be vaccinated and we are continuing to try to provide education and there’s an awful lot of misinformation out there, sadly, about the safety and efficacy of these vaccines.”
This story was originally published May 18, 2021 at 8:52 AM.
