Dr. Anthony Fauci said Monday that the US government will not require Americans to use vaccine passports to prove they have been immunized against the coronavirus.
The director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said the federal government “could be involved in ensuring that things are done fairly and equitably.”
“But I doubt if the federal government will be the main element of this,” Fauci told the Politico Dispatch podcast.
Fauci said that certain companies and educational institutions are expected to be the ones to create their own vaccination policies.
“I’m not saying it should or should be done, but I’m saying you could predict how an independent entity could say, ‘Well, we can’t deal with you unless we know you’re vaccinated.’ But he will not be mandated by the federal government, “he said.
Andy Slavitt, senior adviser to the White House COVID-19 response team, said earlier that the Biden administration was advising the private sector only on how to develop so-called passports.
“The government does not see its role as a place to create a passport or a place to store citizens’ data. We see this as something that the private sector is doing and we will do what is important to us, “he said in a press briefing.
“And we are conducting an inter-agency process right now to go through these details and to meet some important criteria with these accreditations. Nr. 1 that there is fair access. That means whether or not people have access to technology or not, ”he added.