FACT FOCUS: Vermont ruling does not say schools can vaccinate children without parental consent

BY MELISSA GOLDIN Social media users are misrepresenting a Vermont Supreme Court ruling , claiming that it gives schools permission to vaccinate children even if their parents do not consent. The ruling addressed a lawsuit filed by Dario and Shujen Politella against Windham Southeast School District and state officials over the mistaken vaccination of their child against COVID-19 in 2021, when he was 6 years old. A lower court had dismissed the original complaint, as well as an amended version. An appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court was filed on Nov. 19. But the ruling by Vermont’s high court is not as far-reaching as some online have claimed. In reality, it concluded that anyone protected under the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act, or PREP, Act is immune to state lawsuits. Here’s a closer look at the facts. CLAIM: The Vermont Supreme Court ruled that schools can vaccinate children against their parents’ wishes. THE FACTS: The claim stems from a July 26 ruling by the Vermont Supreme Court, which found that anyone protected by the PREP Act is immune to state lawsuits, including the officials named in the Politella’s suit. The ruling does not authorize schools to vaccinate children at their discretion. According to the lawsuit, the Politella’s son — referred to as L.P. — was given one dose of the Pfizer BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccination clinic held at Academy School in Brattleboro even though his father, Dario, told the school’s assistant principal a few days before that his son was not to receive a vaccination. In what officials described as a mistake, L.P. was removed from class and had a “handwritten label” put on his shirt with the name and date of birth of another student, L.K., who had already been vaccinated that day. L.P. was then vaccinated. Ultimately, the Vermont Supreme Court ruled that officials involved in the case could not be sued. “We conclude that the PREP Act immunizes every defendant in this case and this fact alone is enough to dismiss the case,” the Vermont Supreme Court’s ruling reads. “We conclude that when the federal PREP Act immunizes a defendant, the PREP Act bars all state-law claims against that defendant as a matter of law.” The PREP Act , enacted by Congress in 2005, authorizes the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services to issue a declaration in the event of a public health emergency providing immunity from liability for activities related to medical countermeasures, such as the administration of a vaccine, except in cases of “willful misconduct” that result in “death or serious physical injury.” A declaration against COVID-19 was issued on March 17, 2020. It is set to expire on Dec. 31. Federals suits claiming willful misconduct are filed in Washington. Social media users described the Vermont Supreme Court’s ruling as having consequences beyond what it actually says. “The Vermont Supreme Court has ruled that schools can force-vaccinate children for Covid against the wishes of their parents,” reads one X post that had been liked and shared approximately 16,600 times as of Tuesday. “The high court ruled on a case involving a 6-year-old boy who was forced to take a Covid mRNA injection by his school. However, his family had explicitly stated that they didn’t want their child to receive the ‘vaccines.’” Other users alleged that the ruling gives schools permission to give students any vaccine without parental consent, not just ones for COVID-19. Rod Smolla, president of the Vermont Law and Graduate School and an expert on constitutional law, told The Associated Press that the ruling “merely holds that the federal statute at issue, the PREP Act, preempts state lawsuits in cases in which officials mistakenly administer a vaccination without consent.” “Nothing in the Vermont Supreme Court opinion states that school officials can vaccinate a child against the instructions of the parent,” he wrote in an email. Asked whether the claims spreading online have any merit, Ronald Ferrara, an attorney representing the Politellas, told the AP that although the ruling doesn’t say schools can vaccinate students regardless of parental consent, officials could interpret it to mean that they could get away with doing so under the PREP Act, at least when it comes to COVID-19 vaccines. He explained that the U.S. Supreme Court appeal seeks to clarify whether the Vermont Supreme Court interpreted the PREP Act beyond what Congress intended. “The Politella’s fundamental liberty interest to decide whether their son should receive elective medical treatment was denied by agents of the State and School,” he wrote in an email to the AP. “The Vermont Court misconstrues the scope of PREP Act immunity (which is conditioned upon informed consent for medical treatments unapproved by FDA), to cover this denial of rights and its underlying battery.” Ferrara added that he was not aware of the claims spreading online, but that he “can understand how lay people may conflate the court’s mistaken grant of immunity for misconduct as tantamount to blessing such misconduct.”

NEW YORK — Donald Trump’s attorneys have asked the judge who presided over his criminal hush money case to dismiss the indictment and vacate the jury’s guilty verdicts — arguing their client is a victim of the same “raw politics” President Joe Biden cited in pardoning his son, Hunter, according to filings made public Tuesday. “President Biden argued that ‘raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice,'” Trump lawyers Todd Blanche and Emil Bove wrote in the lengthy and politically charged filing, referring to Biden’s weekend statement announcing a 10-year pardon for his son. Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Please enable it in your browser settings.Federal data shows the average per capita income for a Teton County resident was $471,751 last year, the highest in the nation. With a per capita income approaching half a million dollars annually, Teton County’s figure is 6.7 times the nation’s average, which was $69,810 according to calculations from federal Bureau of Economic Analysis data. Teton County’s 2023 per capita income was more than seven times the $65,917 average of Wyoming’s other 22 counties, Jackson Hole economic consultant and Jackson Town Council member Jonathan Schechter wrote in a newsletter last week. “On average, every person living in Teton County in 2023 — regardless of age, health, employment status, what have you — earned an average of $471,751,” Schechter wrote in his “Co-Thrive” newsletter. The annual figures are the latest available and were released last month by the U.S. Department of Commerce. Schechter titled his latest missive “It Ain’t Me Babe” to underscore that super-wealthy individuals raise Teton’s average annual income and that Jane and John Doe aren’t sipping Dom Pérignon from Neiman Marcus flutes at happy hour. While there are no median (half above, half below) county figures for 2023 based on the same IRS data, there is other information that indicates “it’s not just one or two people,” who boost the per capita income for the collective 23,000 residents, Schechter said. Continued demographic shifts may be in store, potentially contributing to the community’s traffic congestion, income inequality and affordable housing shortages, Schechter wrote. “If the incoming administration honors its pledge to further cut taxes for the rich, then Jackson Hole and similar communities need to brace themselves for round two of recent years’ craziness regarding investment income, home prices, and the difficulties of housing anyone but the well-to-do,” Schechter wrote. Schechter traces Teton County’s wealth to heady investment income growth, tax structures and post-COVID demographic changes, among other things. State policies contribute to Teton County’s high per capita income, including “Wyoming’s extraordinarily wealth-friendly tax and trust laws,” the newsletter states. “Despite having just 4% of Wyoming’s population, in 2023 Teton County residents earned 23% of the state’s total personal income and essentially half of its total investment income,” Schechter wrote. Wyoming’s own analysts acknowledge some of Teton County’s outlying statistics. Teton County generated more than 50% of the state’s mandatory 3% lodging tax in FY 2024, according to Wenlin Liu, chief economist with Wyoming’s Economic Analysis Division of the Department of Administration & Information. Jackson is a major tourist destination and is located near Grand Teton and Yellowstone national parks. The assessed value of Teton County’s residential property makes up 35% of the state’s total, according to calculations made from the Wyoming department’s information. The state lists $3.5 billion worth of residential property in Teton County, $9.8 billion statewide. The cost of living for Teton County in the second quarter of 2024, based on a statewide index of 100, was 176, the agency reported. Housing alone was 239, according to the index, meaning that Teton residents paid $239 for every $100 paid by residents statewide. A two-bedroom unfurnished apartment in Teton County costs an average of $3,354 a month to rent, not counting gas and electric bills. The situation is challenging for Teton County because it doesn’t have the tools, like a real estate transfer tax, to capitalize on the wealth and address the impacts it brings, said Schechter, who operates the Charture Institute think tank. Wyoming itself has sought to capitalize on Teton’s high property values, seeking to lease state school trust land to maximize revenues. County developers, housing advocates and large landowners also have urged the state to rejigger local land use and zoning rules to assuage housing woes, appealing to the Legislature’s Regulatory Reduction Task Force for changes. Lawmakers have questioned whether the county uses such codes and regulations to exclude others or enact a no-growth policy. For Schechter, the solution is not so simple. “To resolve the affordable housing crisis you have to repeal the law of supply and demand,” he said. “People are increasingly choosing to move to where they want to live rather than where work forces them to live,” Schechter wrote. Changes in technology and other factors “sever the umbilical cord connecting work and home.” As a result, five Rocky Mountain resort counties rank in the nation’s top 12 for per capita income in 2023, including second-place Summit County, Utah, location of Park City, and third-place Pitkin County, Colorado, site of Aspen. “Once quiet, off-the-beaten-path communities such as Jackson Hole, Park City, Aspen, Sun Valley, and Telluride are being overwhelmed by economic forces beyond their control, and arguably beyond their comprehension,” Schechter wrote. He has a theory. “I suspect the reason for Teton County’s tremendous growth in investment income is the Trump tax cuts of 2017,” combined with COVID migration, he wrote. Starting in 2019, “the major socio-economic effect on Jackson Hole was that both home prices and investment income doubled in three years.” The Teton County residents who benefited most had investments, worked in “location-neutral jobs” and/or earned income from employment based outside of Teton County. “What didn’t double were the wages for people working in Jackson Hole’s location-dependent jobs; i.e., most of the jobs that allow the community to function,” Schechter wrote. It’s sometimes difficult to convey the county’s skewed economics to legislators who forge the state’s policies, Rep. Andrew Byron, R-Jackson, said. Wealth in Teton County creates “a constant target ... on our back.” Simply getting lawmakers to convene committee meetings in Jackson is difficult given the mismatch between electeds’ per diem payments and hotel costs, he said. When they do visit and see residents’ efforts to preserve scenery, wildlife habitat and also tax themselves to improve housing, stereotypes can dissolve. “I think that can break down these barriers,” he said. Get any of our free email newsletters — news headlines, sports, arts & entertainment, state legislature, CFD news, and more.

Jan. 4-7 _ The Sentry (Chris Kirk) Jan. 11-14 _ Sony Open in Hawaii (Grayson Murray) Jan. 18-21 _ The American Express (Nick Dunlap) Jan. 24-27 _ Farmers Insurance Open (Matthieu Pavon) Feb. 1-4 _ AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am (Wyndham Clark) Feb. 8-11 _ WM Phoenix Open (Nick Taylor) Feb. 15-18 _ The Genesis Invitational (Hideki Matsuyama) Feb. 22-25 _ Mexico Open at Vidanta (Jake Knapp) Feb. 26 _ The Match IX (Rory McIlroy) Feb. 29-March 4 _ Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches (Austin Eckroat) March 7-10 _ Puerto Rico Open (Brice Garnett) March 7-10 _ Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard (Scottie Scheffler) March 14-17 _ THE PLAYERS Championship (Scottie Scheffler) March 21-24 _ Valspar Championship (Peter Malnati) March 28-31 _ Texas Children's Houston Open (Stephan Jaeger) April 4-7 _ Valero Texas Open (Akshay Bhatia) April 11-14 _ Masters Tournament (Scottie Scheffler) April 18-21 _ Corales Puntacana Championship (Billy Horschel) April 18-22 _ RBC Heritage (Scottie Scheffler) April 25-28 _ Zurich Classic of New Orleans (Tied) May 2-5 _ THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson (Taylor Pendrith) May 9-12 _ Myrtle Beach Classic (Chris Gotterup) May 9-12 _ Wells Fargo Championship (Rory McIlroy) May 16-19 _ PGA Championship (Xander Schauffele) May 23-26 _ Charles Schwab Challenge (Davis Riley) May 30-June 2 _ RBC Canadian Open (Robert Macintyre) June 6-9 _ the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday (Scottie Scheffler) June 13-16 _ U.S. Open (Bryson DeChambeau) June 20-23 _ Travelers Championship (Scottie Scheffler) June 27-30 _ Rocket Mortgage Classic (Cameron Davis) July 4-7 _ John Deere Classic (Davis Thompson) July 11-14 _ Genesis Scottish Open (Robert Macintyre) July 11-14 _ ISCO Championship (Harry Hall) July 18-21 _ Barracuda Championship (Nick Dunlap) July 18-21 _ The Open Championship (Xander Schauffele) July 25-28 _ 3M Open (Jhonattan Vegas) Aug. 8-12 _ Wyndham Championship (Aaron Rai) Aug. 15-18 _ FedEx St. Jude Championship (Hideki Matsuyama) Aug. 22-25 _ BMW Championship (Keegan Bradley) Aug. 29-Sept. 1 _ TOUR Championship (Scottie Scheffler) Sept. 12-15 _ Procore Championship (Patton Kizzire) Sept. 26-29 _ Presidents Cup (United States) Oct. 3-6 _ Sanderson Farms Championship (Kevin Yu) Oct. 10-13 _ Black Desert Championship (Matthew McCarty) Oct. 17-20 _ Shriners Children's Open (J.T. Poston) Oct. 24-27 _ ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP (Nicolas Echavarria) Nov. 7-10 _ World Wide Technology Championship (Austin Eckroat) Nov. 14-17 _ Butterfield Bermuda Championship (Rafael Campos) Nov. 21-24 _ The RSM Classic (Maverick McNealy) Dec. 5-8 _ Hero World Challenge, Nassau, Bahamas Dec. 12-15 _ Grant Thornton Invitational, Naples, Fla.

Original 'YMCA' Singer Explains Why He Let Trump Use the Song, Answers 'Gay Anthem' ClaimsSAN DIEGO, Dec. 03, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Robbins LLP reminds investors that a class action was filed on behalf of all persons and entities that purchased or otherwise acquired Xerox Holdings Corporation XRX securities between January 25, 2024 and October 28, 2024. Xerox and its subsidiaries offer workplace technology that integrates hardware, services, and software for enterprises in the Americas, and internationally. For more information, submit a form , email attorney Aaron Dumas, Jr., or give us a call at (800) 350-6003. The Allegations: Robbins LLP is Investigating Allegations that Xerox Holdings Corporation (XRX) Misled Investors Regarding its Business Prospects According to the complaint, during the class period, defendants failed to disclose to investors that: (1) after a large workforce reduction, the Company's salesforce was reorganized with new territory assignments and account coverage; (2) as a result, the Company's salesforce productivity was disrupted; (3) as a result, the Company had a lower rate of sell-through of older products; (4) the difficulties in flushing out older product would delay the launch of key products; and (5) therefore, Xerox was likely to experience lower sales and revenue. Plaintiff alleges that on October 29, 2024, Xerox revealed "lower-than-expected improvements in sales force productivity" and "delays in the global launch of two new products" had led to "sales underperformance." The Company disclosed that for third quarter 2024, quarterly revenue was down 7.5% year-over-year to $1.53 billion, net loss fell to -$1.2 billion (down $1.3 billion year-over-year), and equipment sales declined 12.2% year over year to $339 million. In a corresponding earnings call, the Company's COO revealed the product delay was in fact a "forecasting issue" where the Company "had higher expectations that we were going to flush through the older product" which it needed to "sell through" in order to "make those transitions." On this news, the Company's share price fell $1.79, or 17.41%, to close at $8.49 per share on October 29, 2024. What Now : You may be eligible to participate in the class action against Xerox Holdings Corporation. Shareholders who want to serve as lead plaintiff for the class must submit their application to the court by January 21, 2025. A lead plaintiff is a representative party who acts on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation. You do not have to participate in the case to be eligible for a recovery. If you choose to take no action, you can remain an absent class member. For more information, click here . All representation is on a contingency fee basis. Shareholders pay no fees or expenses. About Robbins LLP : Some law firms issuing releases about this matter do not actually litigate securities class actions; Robbins LLP does. A recognized leader in shareholder rights litigation, the attorneys and staff of Robbins LLP have been dedicated to helping shareholders recover losses, improve corporate governance structures, and hold company executives accountable for their wrongdoing since 2002. Since our inception, we have obtained over $1 billion for shareholders. To be notified if a class action against Xerox Holdings Corporation settles or to receive free alerts when corporate executives engage in wrongdoing, sign up for Stock Watch today. Attorney Advertising. Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome. A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/513fb6e4-a34e-4150-8fe5-2c133087d380 Contact: Aaron Dumas, Jr. Robbins LLP 5060 Shoreham Pl., Ste. 300 San Diego, CA 92122 adumas@robbinsllp.com (800) 350-6003 www.robbinsllp.com https://www.facebook.com/RobbinsLLP/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/robbins-llp/ © 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

AP News Summary at 6:42 p.m. EST

Maschmeyer's 34 saves carry Ottawa Charge past New York Sirens, 3-1Biden regrets dropping out of presidential race because he believes he would have beaten Trump

Words on ammo in CEO shooting echo common phrase on insurer tactics: Delay, deny, defend A message left at the scene of an insurance executive’s fatal shooting echoes a phrase commonly used to describe insurer tactics to avoid paying claims. The words “deny,” “defend” and “depose” were written on the ammunition used to kill UnitedHealthcare's CEO. That's according to two officials who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Thursday. The words are similar to the phrase “delay, deny, defend.” That's how attorneys describe insurers denying services and payment, and the title of a 2010 book critical of the industry. Police haven’t officially commented on the words. But Thompson’s shooting and the messages on the ammunition have sparked outrage on social media and elsewhere, reflecting frustration Americans have over the cost and complexity of getting care. Bitcoin has surpassed the $100,000 mark as the post-election rally continues. What's next? NEW YORK (AP) — Bitcoin has topped the $100,000 mark, extending a rally in the world’s most popular cryptocurrency sparked by the election of Donald Trump. The milestone comes just hours after the president-elect signaled a lighter regulatory approach to the crypto industry with his choice of crypto advocate Paul Atkins to be the next chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Bitcoin has soared to unprecedented heights since Trump won the election Nov. 5. The cryptocurrency has climbed dramatically from $69,374 on Election Day and rose to more than $103,000 before falling back below $100,000 by Thursday afternoon. US judge rejects Boeing's plea deal in a conspiracy case stemming from fatal plane crashes DALLAS (AP) — A federal judge has rejected a deal that would have let Boeing to plead guilty to a felony conspiracy charge and pay a fine for misleading U.S. regulators about the 737 Max jetliner before two of the planes crashed and 346 people died. U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor in Texas said that diversity, inclusion and equity or DEI policies in the government and at Boeing could result in race being a factor in picking an official to oversee Boeing’s compliance with the agreement. His ruling on Thursday creates uncertainty around the criminal prosecution of the aerospace giant. The judge gave Boeing and the Justice Department 30 days to tell him how they plan to proceed. McKinsey subsidiary will pay $122M for scheme to bribe South African officials, US says WASHINGTON (AP) — An African subsidiary of the consulting firm McKinsey & Company Inc. will pay a criminal penalty of more than $122 million to resolve a U.S. Justice Department investigation into a yearslong scheme to bribe South African government officials. The Justice Department says the scheme involved bribes to officials with South Africa’s state-owned and state-controlled custodian of ports, rails, and pipelines, as well as its state-controlled energy company. It netted McKinsey Africa and its parent company $85 million in profits between 2012 and 2016, officials said. McKinsey said in a statement that it “welcomes the resolution of these matters and the closure of this regretful situation.” EPA hails 'revitalized' enforcement efforts as Biden administration heads to exit WASHINGTON (AP) — The Environmental Protection Agency says it concluded more than 1,850 civil cases this year, a 3.4% increase over 2023, and charged 121 criminal defendants, a 17.6% increase over the previous year. The agency also issued $1.7 billion in financial penalties, more than double last year's total. Thursday's report was the final one account of Biden-era enforcement actions before President-elect Donald Trump takes office in January. Enforcement efforts included first-ever criminal charges for a California man accused of smuggling climate-damaging air coolants into the United States. Engine maker Cummins Inc. paid more than $2 billion in fines and penalties after it was found to use illegal software to skirt diesel emissions tests. Work-life balance isn't working for women. Why? NEW YORK (AP) — About half of working women reported feeling stressed “a lot of the day,” compared to about 4 in 10 men, according to a Gallup report published Wednesday. The report suggests that competing demands of work and home comprise part of the problem: working women who are parents or guardians are more likely than men who are parents to say they have declined or delayed a promotion at work because of personal or family obligations, and mothers are more likely than fathers to “strongly agree” that they are the default responders for unexpected child care issues. But changing workplace culture and prioritizing well-being can improve the problem, according to Karen Guggenheim, creator of the World Happiness Summit. From outsider to the Oval Office, bitcoin surges as a new administration embraces crypto NEW YORK (AP) — Bitcoin burst on the scene after trust had withered in the financial system and Washington’s ability to protect people from it. Now, it’s Washington’s embrace of bitcoin that’s sending it to records. Bitcoin briefly surged above $103,000 after President-elect Donald Trump said he will nominate Paul Atkins, who's seen as friendly to crypto, to be the Securities and Exchange Commission's next chair. The crypto industry, meanwhile, did its part to bring politicians friendly to digital currencies into Washington. It's a twist from bitcoin's early days, when it was lauded as a kind of electronic cash that wouldn’t be beholden to any government or financial institution. Stock market today: Wall Street edges back from its records as bitcoin briefly pops above $100,000 NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks edged back from their records as Wall Street counted down to a big jobs report that’s coming on Friday. The S&P 500 fell 0.2% Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.6%, and the Nasdaq composite sank 0.2% from its own all-time high. The crypto market had more action, and bitcoin briefly burst to a record above $103,000 before falling back toward $99,000. It's climbed dramatically since Election Day on hopes President-elect Donald Trump will be more friendly to crypto. Airline stocks were strong, while Treasury yields held relatively steady in the bond market. Key members of OPEC+ alliance are putting off production increases amid slack crude prices FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Eight members of the OPEC+ alliance of oil exporting countries have decided to put off increasing oil production as they face weaker than expected demand and competing production from non-allied countries — factors that could keep oil prices stagnant into next year. The OPEC+ members decided at an online meeting to postpone by three months production increases that had been scheduled to take effect Jan. 1. The plan had been to start gradually restoring 2.2 million barrels per day over the course of 2025. That process will now be pushed back to April 1, 2025 and production increases will gradually take place over 18 months until October 2026. Eli Lilly invests $3B to expand Wisconsin factory to help meet demand for Mounjaro, Zepbound Eli Lilly is spending another $3 billion to bulk up manufacturing as the drugmaker seeks to stoke production of some blockbuster drugs and future products. Lilly said Thursday it will expand a Kenosha County, Wisconsin, factory it bought early this year. The investment will help meet growing demand for injectable products like its diabetes and obesity drugs, Mounjaro and Zepbound. Those drugs brought in a combined $4.4 billion in sales for Lilly in this year’s third quarter. The drugmaker plans to start construction of the expansion next year.Ghana has rolled out an upgraded version of its passport which is embedded with a microprocessor chip containing the holder’s biometric data. The country’s President Nana Akufo-Addo launched the new travel document at a ceremony in Accra on December 2, to Ghana Broadcasting Corporation. He called the project one of the hallmarks of the country’s digital transformation and modernization efforts led by Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia, noting that the redesigned travel credential comes with enhanced features for improved security and ease of travel. The new passport project is handled by local company Biometric Travel Solutions Ltd under a Build-Operate and Transfer arrangement. This company, which is an official partner of the Foreign Ministry, will work with Hungarian security printing firm ANY Security Printing Company Plc for the next 10 years. “The e-Passport is not just a travel document; it is a symbol of our progress, resilience, and readiness to embrace the future with confidence. This achievement underscores the strategic importance of public-private partnerships in driving national development,” the outlet quotes the president as saying. Akufo-Addo added that the move is part of an ongoing process to digitize and streamline administrative process and ease access to public services. The document is also designed with elements that represent key Ghanaian values, symbols and culture. Foreign Affairs Minister Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, who also spoke during the launching ceremony, emphasized the security advantages of the new passport, saying it will curb identity theft and make tampering difficult. Beyond security, the minister said the new document has been designed in such a way as to reduce the turn-around time needed to obtain it. She said other measures are also being take to facilitate the application process for the passport. Botchwey said the transition to an upgraded passport underscores not only the government’s quest for efficiency, but also the need to align with international standards in the domain of travel documents prescribed by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO). “The Government of Ghana has been working assiduously to make its digitization agenda, under the able leadership of the Vice President, a reality through various initiatives. The chip-embedded passport that we are launching today is a major milestone in this journey and boasts of several state-of-the-art features carefully designed to enhance its security and facilitate ease of travel for Ghanaian citizens,” said Botchwey as cited by . “By the introduction of the chip-embedded passport, Ghana is poised to be at the forefront of modern technology within the African sub-region, shortening the turn-around time for passport issuance, while making travel safer, and more secure for all citizens.” As part of its digital transformation drive, Ghana in October to facilitate access to digital government services. | | | | | | |

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