Cruise lines head for showdown with Florida Governor DeSantis over vaccine requirement ban

Primary tabs

Fri, 2021-05-28 21:05 — mike kraft

‘Political buffoonery’: Cruise lines head for showdown with DeSantis over vaccine requirement ban Florida’s Republican governor has sued the CDC to let cruise ships sail again quickly — but he’s also banned the one thing that will make a fast restart possible. Hannah Sampson Washington Post

Cruise lines see vaccine requirements as their quickest path back to sailing from the U.S. But Florida, home to the largest operators and busiest cruise ports in the world, has passed a law saying those companies are not allowed to ask passengers for proof of vaccination status.

The Centers for Disease Control has told cruise companies that vaccines are a fast track to resuming; with 95 percent of passengers and crew vaccinated, lines do not have to run test cruises before they can take paying passengers out. Cruising has been banned from U.S. ports since March of 2020.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) sued the CDC last month over the ban and has continued to challenge the agency’s authority. After Celebrity Cruises announced this week that it had approval to sail in late June with vaccinated passengers, a representative for the governor warned of potentially “millions of dollars in fines” for violating the law.

Another company, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, has threatened to pull ships from the state if its ships are not allowed to require vaccinations.

So who will get their way? Legal experts are betting on the cruise lines — and calling out Florida’s governor for political posturing....

Wendy Parmet, director of the Center for Health Policy and Law at Northeastern University, called the state’s position “amazing on so many levels.”

She said the federal government has the authority to regulate international commerce, or who comes into and out of the country. And federal law, she said, trumps state law when there’s a conflict — though an agency’s actions can be challenged in court. ...

Country / Region Tags:

General Topic Tags: