(Radio Iowa) – While hundreds of thousands of Iowans have been vaccinated for COVID-19, with thousands more getting the shots daily, Governor Kim Reynolds says they shouldn’t have to carry a “vaccine passport” to prove it to anyone.

Vaccine passports have already been banned via executive orders by the governors of Texas and Florida. The statement by Reynolds, a Republican, is in tandem with the Biden administration, which announced Tuesday it would -not- create a federal vaccine passport or require travelers or businesses to be inoculated.

The governor says a federal vaccine passport would have privacy implications and might be unconstitutional.

Reynolds plans to meet with lawmakers to discuss whether a bill can be passed before the 2021 legislative session ends this spring, or if she needs to take executive action.

A bill stalled in the Senate this year that would have prohibited Iowa businesses and health care facilities from requiring that employees get vaccinations. The bill also sought to bar health insurance companies from denying coverage based on a lack of immunizations. Reynolds announced this (Wednesday) morning that 44 percent of adult Iowans have had at least one dose and 28 percent of Iowans eligible for Covid shots are fully vaccinated. However, she said vaccination rates among middle aged Iowans are lagging and 61 percent of the people with Covid who are hospitalized in Iowa are in their 40s and 50s and 60s.

Reynolds used a portion of her weekly news conference to highlight efforts in Storm Lake to boost vaccination rates among Latinos. A mass vaccination clinic in Storm Lake is planned for Sunday April 18th.