Last Updated Apr 6, 2021 at 11:10 am ADT Kansas City Star. April 5, 2021. Editorial: Vaccine passports are a matter of Missouri getting back to normal, not politics Gov. Mike Parson’s announced Thursday that he will not require Missourians to show they’ve been inoculated against COVID-19 with a “vaccine passport” — meaning he’s deflecting the responsibility to keep people safe onto businesses and municipalities. “If the private sector wants to do that, I’m fine with that,” Parson told reporters. “As far as the state goes, we won’t mandate vaccine passports.” It sounds a lot like his refusal to issue a statewide mask mandate or take a definitive stance on when to close schools or businesses, even while COVID-19 infections were exploding across the state. In some parts of Missouri, masks were never required in public places. Parson took some heat for those decisions.