Can states, businesses require COVID vaccine passports?

ByABC7 Chicago Digital Team WLS logo
Thursday, April 8, 2021
Are COVID vaccine passports legal?
ABC7 Legal Analyst Gil Soffer answers questions on the legality of COVID passports.

CHICAGO (WLS) -- By now, you have probably heard of vaccine passports. It's an app or document that shows proof of a COVID-19 vaccination before doing things like travel or going to a concert.

Now, two states have banned them calling it an overreach.

Gil Soffer, ABC 7 legal analyst, breaks down legal questions around vaccine passports.

SEE ALSO: What is a vaccine passport and how would it be used?

Having a vaccine passport could be used to give you access to sports and entertainment venues, restaurants, travel -- just to name a few.

The White House has said the federal government will not mandate vaccine passports, but could Governor JB Pritzker implement a requirement? Soffer said Pritzker probably could because of a 1905 Supreme Court case.

Soffer said businesses can require vaccinations, but they have to make accommodations for people with sincerely held religious beliefs or medical reasons.