PIERRE, S.D. (KELO) — Gov. Kristi Noem has signed an Executive Order banning vaccine passports in South Dakota.

In a release, the governor says “since the start of the COVID pandemic, we have provided South Dakotans with up-to-date science, facts, and data and then trusted them to make the best decisions for themselves and their loved-ones.”

She added “I encourage all South Dakotans to get vaccinated against COVID-19, but we are not going to mandate any such activity. 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.”

Vaccine passports are a form of verification that an individual has been vaccinated, which could be used by government, private companies and event organizers to determine who can safely participate in certain activities, or travel to certain places.

In the beginning of April, the Biden administration announced it will not issue a federal mandate requiring individuals to obtain a single vaccination credential, otherwise described as a ‘vaccine passport,’ saying that it expects the private sector to take the lead on the verification of COVID-19 vaccines.