As of now, multiple private and nonprofit organizations and coalitions are working to develop standards that a passport could use. The administration is trying to coordinate these efforts, but if a passport comes to fruition it “will be driven by the private sector,” said White House press secretary Jen Psaki. “Ours will more be focused on guidelines that can be used as a basis.”

That in itself makes it a challenge, since the utility of a passport would depend on its being simple and universally available. If there were a dozen different kinds of passports, it would make it harder for businesses to use them to screen customers.....

But this is coercive, some will say. There are places I wouldn’t be able to go unless I were vaccinated! That’s true — although in many cases, it would probably mean you wouldn’t be able to go there unless you put on a mask, which is exactly what you have to do now.

And we coerce people all the time, especially when we’ve decided it’s necessary to keep them from hurting others. Forcing you to take a driving test before you get a license — and forcing you to carry that license in case a law enforcement official wants to see it — is coercive. But we do it. We force children to get a range of vaccines before they’re allowed to attend school with other children.

Conservatives, furthermore, are happy to require people to show a very specific ID before they’re allowed to vote. They would also like to see every employer use a federal government database known as E-Verify to check your citizenship status before they’ll hire you; Republican hero Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill mandating just that in Florida.

During a press conference on Monday, March 29, DeSantis revealed he plans to introduce "an executive function" that would prohibit businesses from refusing service to any individuals who have not received the COVID-19 vaccine. He also lambasted the idea of implementing vaccine passports.

"We are not supporting doing any vaccine passports in the state of Florida," he said at the press conference, according to 10 Tampa Bay. "It's completely unacceptable for either the government or the private sector to impose upon you the requirement that you show proof of vaccine to just simply be able to participate in normal society.

DeSantis added, "You want to go to a movie theatre, should you have to show [a vaccine passport]? No. You want to go to a game, should you have to show that? No. You want to go to a theme park? No. We're not supportive of that."