On June 7, 2021, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law a bill that makes it illegal for any Texas business or government entity to require the provision of any evidence that an individual has received a COVID-19 vaccine. Texas has now joined a number of states, including Florida and Arizona, in banning so-called “vaccine passports.”

In a tweet announcing that he had signed Senate Bill 968 into law, Gov. Abbott stated that “Texas is open 100%. Texans should have the freedom to go where they want without any limits, restrictions, or requirements.” The law, according to Gov. Abbott’s tweet, “prohibits any business or gov’t entity from requiring vaccine passports or any vaccine information.” The newly-enacted law is a follow-up to an executive order issued by Gov. Abbott in April 2021 which barred state agencies from requiring proof of vaccination in order to receive services from that agency. The ban on proof of a vaccine is now extended to include any private or nonprofit agencies that receive state funding but includes an exception for assisted living facilities, nursing homes, and other residential care facilities.

Cruise industry responds to Texas law

The cruise industry has been one of the hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. Cruises departing from US ports have all been canceled since early 2020 and are only now ready for a comeback. The newly-signed Texas law is arriving just as Carnival Cruise Lines is poised to launch two of its first post-pandemic cruises out of the Port of Galveston in Texas on July 3 and July 15, respectively. On May 25, 2021, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released new guidance that allowed limited test cruises to take place on boats at 10% capacity or lower but noted that, by mid-summer, more normal-looking cruises would be able to resume. The latest CDC guidelines state that, if ships wish to operate without low capacity and social-distancing requirements, at least 95% of passengers over age 16 and 95% of crew members should have received their second vaccination dose (or first, in the case of the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine) at least 14 days before setting sail. The two cruises departing from Galveston are among a limited number of cruises that Carnival plans to operate out of the US this summer.

In a statement released the day before Senate Bill 968 was signed into law, Carnival Cruise Line president Christine Duffy expressed her appreciation for Gov. Abbott’s efforts in making vaccines available to cruise staff, which allowed cruises to resume sooner. She also explained that current CDC guidelines necessitate a vaccine requirement for Carnival passengers. “he current CDC requirements for cruising with a guest base that is unvaccinated will make it very difficult to deliver the experience our guests expect. . . As a result, our alternative is to operate our ships from the U.S. during the month of July with vaccinated guests.”

When asked in a tweet about Carnival Cruise Line’s requirement for passengers sailing out of Galveston to provide a vaccine passport before being allowed to board, Gov. Abbott replied by saying, “I’m signing a law today that prohibits any business operating in Texas from requiring vaccine passports or any vaccine information. Texas is open 100% without any restrictions or limitations or requirements.” While no definitive statement has been made on whether Texas agrees with Carnival’s conclusion that it is exempted from the law banning vaccine passports, Gov. Abbott’s response implies that he disagrees with the cruise line’s stance.

Carnival has not issued a full response to the Texas law but expressed its intention to continue to require that passengers over age 16 be vaccinated in a recent statement. “We are evaluating the legislation recently signed into law in Texas regarding vaccine information. The law provides exceptions for when a business is implementing COVID protocols in accordance with federal law which is consistent with our plans to comply with the (CDC) guidelines.”