PIERRE, S.D.(Press Release) – Tuesday, Governor Kristi Noem signed Executive Order 2021-08, which bans government-instituted vaccine passports in South Dakota.

“Since the start of the COVID pandemic, we have provided the people of South Dakota with up-to-date science, facts, and data and then trusted them to exercise their personal responsibility to make the best decisions for themselves and their loved-ones,” said Governor Kristi Noem. “We’ve resisted government mandates, and our state is stronger for it.

“I encourage all South Dakotans to get vaccinated against COVID-19, but we are not going to mandate any such activity,” continued Governor Noem. “And we are not going to restrict South Dakotans’ exercise of their freedoms with un-American policies like vaccine passports. In our state, ‘Under God, the people rule.’ And that is how we will operate for as long as I am governor.”