On Tuesday, Norwegian Cruise Line sued Scott Rivkees, the surgeon general of Florida, over the state’s ban against businesses asking for proof of vaccination against the coronavirus.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Norwegian plans on requiring vaccination for all passengers and crew, including kids, when it starts up its cruises to the Caribbean on August 15.
In its lawsuit, Norwegian notes that Rivkees is the state official in charge of enforcing the ban, and calls its move “a last resort” against the “misguided intrusion” of a state law that bars the use of vaccine passports in Florida, per CNN.
“The State of Florida has indicated that it is otherwise preventing (Norwegian) from safely and soundly resuming passenger cruise operations from Miami, Florida, … in the way that this cruise line has determined will be best for all concerned — with the benefit of documentation confirming that all of its passengers and crew have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19,” the complaint said.
According to ABC7 in Chicago, Governor Ron DeSantis’ press secretary called the lawsuit “disappointing” saying Norwegian is “discriminating against children and other individuals who cannot be vaccinated or who have opted not to be vaccinated for reasons of health, religion, or conscience.”
It should be noted that under Florida law, a company can be fined $5,000 each time they ask a customer to provide proof that they’ve been vaccinated.
Norwegian’s CEO Frank Del Rio previously had threatened to move the company’s ships out of Florida if they were not allowed to mandate vaccines for all passengers and crew.
However, some experts believe the cruise line has two solid arguments that could bolster its case – “the denial of vaccine proof is infringing on the flow of information protected under the First Amendment, and that it unconstitutionally upends the flow of interstate and international commerce.”
