Unraveling viral disinformation and explaining where it came from, the harm it's causing, and what we should do about it.
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But Greene was only getting started. Next she compared vaccine passports to abortion, saying: “The same people that support killing other people in the womb claiming, ‘my body my choice’ are the same people demanding you must have #VaccinePassports and it’s not your body or your choice.”Following the publication of the Washington Post report, the White House sought to clarify its role in the development of the passports. “The government is not viewing its role as the place to create a passport nor a place to hold the data of citizens,” White House COVID-19 Response Team advisor Andy Slavitt said Monday.
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A number of people attempted to point out to Greene that vaccine passports have been a reality for many years: as people travelling to certain countries have to show they have been vaccinated against the likes of yellow fever and rubella before being allowed entry.And this is not just a U.S. endeavor. Governments, airlines, and tech companies are all rushing to develop similar apps for smartphones that would facilitate the opening up of travel and economies globally.
Despite this, right-wing lawmakers in the U.S. appear to believe the Biden’s government has some sort of nefarious goal in helping develop these passports.Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado, who like Greene has previously voiced support for QAnon, called the passports “unconstitutional,” while Rep. Jim Jordan from Ohio compared the introduction of vaccine passports to the passports immigrants present on the southern border.
And many others claimed the vaccine passport effort showed the Democrats’ hypocrisy, linking it to the party’s resistance to voter ID laws, once again ignoring the fact that this effort is being spearheaded by private groups rather than the White House.One of the loudest points making this point was Donald Trump Jr., who claimed the vaccine passport was going to be required to travel within the U.S. There has never been a suggestion that this is what the passports would be used for.