Norwegian Cruise Line is challenging Florida's vaccine passport ban in federal court. The plan is to set sail with only passengers who have received their COVID-19 shots. It reports Reuters.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has been clear that he will not allow any vaccine passports. The state has pushed through a law that, starting July 1st, will prohibit businesses, schools and government agencies from requiring immunity to COVID-19 to offer their services, with some exceptions.
Any violation of it is punishable by a fine of $5,000, equivalent to just over 43,000 kronor. But Norwegian Cruise Line, which sails its Caribbean cruises from the port of Miami, has planned to have just such requirements on its first voyages since the pandemic began later this month.
The cruise line has now filed a lawsuit with a federal judge to have Florida's law overturned. In order to resume sailing, Norwegian Cruise Line has been forced to certify to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that 95 percent of its passengers will be vaccinated, something it says should take precedence over the rules pushed by Ron DeSantis.
In the lawsuit, the company claims that what Florida's regulations are really meant to do is score political points and that it would be devastating to force their August departures to be canceled. The state has responded by saying that it is free to ask for vaccination certificates, but that Norwegian Cruise Line does not have the right to deny anyone on board because they are not vaccinated.
Source: di.se
