To help reopen tourism and commerce, some countries plan a widespread rollout of the vaccine passport, a document that certifies receipt of the new crown vaccine. But it has generated controversy on all sides in the United States. Proponents argue that vaccine passports speed up the return to normal social activity. Opponents argue that vaccine passports are not conducive to protecting citizens’ privacy, are a fraud risk, and create issues of fairness and discrimination.
Vaccine Passport Sparks Privacy Debate
A New York State government-sponsored vaccine passport called Excelsior Passport is being launched. It’s a smartphone app that shows whether someone has been vaccinated or recently tested negative for a new crown. The state’s Democratic governor, Andrew Cuomo, says the idea is like having receptionists at event venues use their own smartphones to scan concertgoers’ codes.
New York officials have not released specific details about how the app works. The app’s privacy policy says the data will be “maintained in a secure manner” and will not be used for sales or marketing purposes or shared with third parties. But some privacy experts say the public needs more details to ensure its information is protected.
The ACLU argues that vaccine passports are not a bad thing, but that the key is how the details are handled to protect individual privacy. In an email to Voice of America, Jay Stanley, senior policy analyst for the ACLU’s Speech, Privacy and Technology Project, said, “In principle, we’re not opposed to the idea of requiring proof of vaccination in some cases. But the problem is in the details. Any proposal for a “vaccine passport” cannot be fully digital, must be decentralized and open-source, and must not allow tracking or the creation of new databases containing personal medical information. Not everyone has a smartphone, especially some from our most vulnerable communities.”
Texas Republican Governor Abbott issued an executive order Tuesday (April 6) prohibiting the state of Texas from mandating proof of vaccination.
In a video posted online, Abbott said, “Government should not require any Texan to show proof of vaccination and disclose private health information just to go about their daily lives. We will continue to vaccinate more Texans and protect public health, and we will do so without infringing on the personal freedoms of our state’s residents.”
Last week, Florida’s Republican Governor DeSantis made the same decision, banning the use of “vaccine passports” in the state.
State Rep. Jacob, an Indiana Republican, is also pushing legislation to ban government-mandated vaccine passports. Jacob said, “We refuse to be subjected to a situation like communist China, where health apps on cell phones monitor, track and restrict the free movement of citizens.”
Former Secretary of State Pompeo tweeted, “Requiring Americans to show proof of vaccination or “vaccine passports” in order to participate in social activities is outrageous and un-Americanized. This is not about containing the virus, but just another dangerous idea from the left in their quest for more power and control.”
Vaccine Passport Has Fraud Potential
Henry T. (Hank) Greely, a Stanford University law professor who works in bioethics, argues that in the United States, the new crown vaccine passport should only apply to workplaces like hospitals and nursing homes and should not be extended to other aspects of daily life because of the potential for counterfeiting.
“I mean, right now I have a piece of paper with a couple of stamps and a date on it, and that’s my vaccine certificate, and it’s easy to forge. Like New York State plans to do vaccine passports on iPhones, but it still needs to be manually authenticated that “this is Hank Greely, and yes, he did get vaccinated.” We don’t have a good system in place to prove that this person is holding a real certificate, that this person is really the person on the certificate and can prove that we got the vaccine, or that they are the person who got the vaccine. So I think it’s possible to make it happen, but it will take some time for us to figure out how to implement it, and immediately the vast majority of people will be vaccinated, and it seems to me a little bit silly and reckless to promote vaccine passports right now.”
He believes that vaccine passports can serve a useful purpose, but people need to take more time to think about and prepare for them. He proposes using this outbreak as a lesson for how to use vaccine passports in other outbreaks that will arise later.
But health law expert David M. Studdert, a professor of law at Stanford University, argues that fraud is not an insurmountable problem.
We have a variety of IDs that are used for other purposes, and we worry about fraud, but we also find ways to combat the continued use of those documents for fraud,” he said. So I think tech companies and others in this area look at this issue carefully and believe we can come up with a solution that will go a long way toward preventing fraud, if not 100%, and creating a workable system.”
Vaccine passports may raise equity issues
The push for a new crown vaccine passport could also raise issues of social equity and discrimination against minorities and vulnerable groups.
Greeley said, “I’m concerned that it’s not fair to do this now because two-thirds of the population is still unvaccinated and two-thirds of the population is not randomly distributed and they tend to be poor, less educated minorities.”
Stanley of the ACLU said, “There is real concern that the creation of vaccine certificates could lead to overuse or have a chilling effect on immigrant communities and communities of color that are already over-regulated and over-supervised. In some legal cases, people can ask for vaccination certificates, but not everyone can get vaccinated now. This is exactly what herd immunity is trying to prevent: communities spreading the virus to those who are not allowed to be vaccinated or who cannot access the vaccine because of their health status. We don’t want vaccine passports to lead to our most vulnerable people being further shut out of full participation in our society.”
The White House announced Tuesday that the federal government will not create a vaccine passport or require people to get the New Crown vaccine in order to travel or engage in business. White House press secretary Sage told reporters.” There will not be a federal vaccination database or a federal mandate requiring everyone to get a single vaccination certificate.”
Travel industry wants vaccine passports to help reopen
But international air travel has been hit hard because of restrictions such as quarantines or outright bans imposed by countries during the outbreak. Airlines are counting on vaccine passports to convince governments to lift some of the restrictions that hinder travelers.
“The importance of the vaccine passport to relaunching the international airline industry cannot be overstated,” Air Trade Group CEO Alexandre de Juniac previously told Voice of America.
Hotels that rely on international travelers are also eager to see vaccine passports adopted.
Studdert, a Stanford University law professor, argued that not promoting vaccine passports would instead be limiting civil liberties. Allowing private businesses to use vaccine passports to regulate the public’s daily activities would help business and society reopen from the shutdown in the epidemic, he said.
Now that more and more people in the United States have received this vaccine, there is growing evidence that they are not a threat to themselves or others, or at least not as much of a threat compared to when they were not vaccinated,” he said. Thus, vaccine passports or vaccine certification is an idea to try to counter this already diminished threat by strengthening civil liberties. There are concerns that governments are moving too much if they do this, but for the private sector, which starts non-essential events like sporting events or theaters, or even allows access to bars and restaurants based on information about people’s vaccine status, it seems to us that some wiggle room should be allowed with appropriate government regulation and control.”
Countries Around the World Consider Using Vaccine Passports
Other countries around the world are considering the use of vaccine passports as a way to safely reopen mass gatherings and travel.
The United Kingdom is developing a “New Crown ID” program for concerts and sporting events. It will record whether people have been vaccinated, have recently tested negative, or have recovered from a previous New Crown infection.
The European Union is also working on a vaccine certification program. In Israel, anyone who has been fully vaccinated or has recovered from Neocon can get a “green pass” that they must display in public places such as hotels, gyms or theaters.
The World Health Organization said Tuesday that it does not currently support requiring vaccine passports for travel because of uncertainty about vaccination in preventing transmission and issues of discrimination.
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