China watchdog groups urged President Joe Biden to ban the use of vaccine passports throughout the U.S. in an open letter signed by dozens of conservative leaders Thursday.
The letter, authored primarily by the Committee on the Present Danger: China and Women’s Rights Without Frontiers, warns Biden that even state, local and private-level vaccine passport systems could offer a step toward a China-style “social credit system.” (RELATED: Democratic 2020 Candidate Wants Government-Sponsored ‘Social Credit’ System Comparable To China’s)
“The Biden-Harris administration has officially declared that it will not be imposing vaccine passport schemes as a matter of federal policy. That commitment will ring hollow, however, if others in state and local governments or the private sector are able effectively to institute such a mechanism for controlling, repressing and coercing many millions of Americans,” the letter states.
Chinese President Xi Jinping waves as he attends the art performance celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Founding of the Communist Party of China on June 28, 2021 in Beijing, China. (Photo by Lintao Zhang/Getty Images)
While the Biden administration has repeatedly stated its opposition to a federal vaccine mandate or passport, it has allowed for–and even encouraged–the use of passports on the state, local and private levels.
“While it may begin with only carrying digital information regarding whether an individual is vaccinated, the rest of the functionality of the Chinese Social Credit System can be integrated into the ‘Vaccine Passport’ system in a matter of minutes,” the letter argues.
The letter’s authors go on to state that vaccine passports could lead to a “two-tiered” society in which only those who have been vaccinated can travel or go to restaurants, among other things.
More than a dozen state governments have already gone forward with banning vaccine passports on similar grounds, including Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Montana, North Dakota, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah and Wyoming.
“We call upon you actively to discourage and preclude such end-runs by issuing an Executive Order and securing federal legislation barring the use of vaccine passports or similar arrangements to suppress our constitutional rights,” the letter, addressed to Biden, concluded.
The letter’s signatories include historian Eric Metaxas, National Tea Party Movement co-founder Michael Johns, Martin Organization founder and CEO Rod Martin, NSCI Institute Founder Kevin Freeman, and many others.