Governor Murphy recently suggested that he would institute vaccine passports in New Jersey, in which people would have to show proof of having received a Covid-19 vaccine to travel or enter certain venues. Murphy said he doesn’t think having vaccine passports is a “crazy idea” and urged New Jerseyans to laminate the card they receive upon getting vaccinated. 

The Republican Governors Association quickly criticized Murphy’s comments, calling the suggestion a “health privacy minefield” and that “hardworking New Jersey residents have the right to keep their health care decisions between themselves and their doctor, and we don’t need Phil Murphy in the waiting room telling patients to make sure they ‘laminate’ their vaccine card on the way out.”

Now, Republican lawmakers in New Jersey are taking it a step further, introducing legislation that would prevent the use of vaccine passports which could lead to discrimination against unvaccinated people.

Holzapfel will introduce legislation in the Senate that makes it unlawful to ask a person if they have received a COVID-19 vaccination or require a person to display proof of vaccination as a condition of or as a prerequisite to:

• the exercise of any privilege or right granted under State or federal law;
• conducting any business or commerce;
• travelling to, outside, or within the State;
• obtaining or maintaining an internship, obtaining or maintaining employment, or receiving a promotion from an employer;
• participation in any governmental or political activity;
• admission or enrollment into any child or adult day care program;
• admission to, enrollment in, or graduation from a preschool program, elementary or secondary school, college, university, or any other institution of education;
• participation in any activity, internship, opportunity, program, or sport offered by a preschool program, elementary or secondary school, college, university, or any other institution of education;
• receiving adequate dental care or health care;
• maintaining, receiving, or renewing a professional certification or license;
• obtaining or renewing membership in any professional organization;
• entrance into or service from any place of business, including, but not limited to, any market, restaurant, or store;
• entrance into and service from any public building, office, or structure;
• entrance into and use of any public park or beach; or
• admission into or service from any amusement park, concert venue, theater, or sporting event.

Additionally, the legislation makes it unlawful to discriminate against or to take any adverse action against any individual who has not received a COVID-19 vaccine or who does not disclose whether the individual has received a COVID-19 vaccine.

Assemblyman Gregory McGuckin and Assemblyman John Catalano will join as co-sponsors of identical companion legislation that is pending introduction in the General Assembly.

“After a year of watching Governor Murphy take extreme actions by executive orders, people don’t want their rights to be further eroded,” Assemblyman Catalano. “Just like shutting down businesses and closing houses or worship, forcing people to show their documents to go out in public seems completely un-American. We have to fight back.”

“We’re extremely concerned by Governor Murphy’s willingness to consider the use of vaccine passports that could prevent people from working, going to school, or visiting public places,” Holzapfel said. “In a free society that respects individual rights, we believe health decisions should be a personal, private choice that a patient doesn’t have to discuss with anyone but their doctor. Our new legislation would prevent vaccine passports from being employed here in New Jersey.”

“We don’t think our state government should threaten or allow for personal freedoms to be restricted based on vaccination status,” said Assemblyman McGuckin. “Requiring vaccine passports to engage in everyday activities would be discriminatory and raise a host of serious constitutional and privacy concerns. This fatally flawed idea needs to be nipped in the bud.”