Los Angeles is launching a digital iPhone coupon for COVID-19 vaccinations, raising concerns that such tools could become “vaccine passports” needed for activities such as air travel and live concerts.
With the plan rolling out this week, Los Angeles County will partner with tech company Healthvana to run the digital verifications, which can be placed in an Apple Wallet or its Android equivalent, Bloomberg reported.
The project’s primary focus is to ensure that people who receive the first shot of the approved Pfizer or Moderna vaccines also receive the required booster shot, including through follow-up notifications.
But the digital receipt can also be used “to prove to airlines, to prove to schools, to prove to who needs it,” that a person has been vaccinated, Healthvana CEO Ramin Bastani told Bloomberg.
But critics fear it marks the rise of a vaccine surveillance state, where digital ‘passports’ are required for everything from flying on a plane to going to the movies.
Los Angeles Fire Brigade Captain Elliot Ibanez, left, receives the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine given by LAFD paramedic Anthony Kong on Monday. The province of LA will soon begin issuing digital vaccination certificate, opening the prospect of a new ‘vaccine passport’ system
In the plan rolling out this week, Los Angeles County will partner with technology company Healthvana to run the digital verifications that can be put into an Apple Wallet (stock photo)
LA’s vaccination certificates emerge as the county has emerged as the newest U.S. epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic, with more than 7,000 Covid hospital admissions first Monday.
Health officials hope that digital data can help streamline the complex two-step vaccination process so that no doses are lost to people who don’t get the required booster shot.
But privacy groups have warned of the possible future effects of a “data collection” of medical information by private companies.
“This great moment of hope should not be seen opportunistically as just another data grab,” the advocacy organization Privacy International said in a statement.
The use of vaccines, and in particular any ‘immunity passport’ or certificate associated with the vaccination, must respect human rights, ‘the group added.
A ‘vaccine passport’ system would also raise questions about what to do with people who have natural antibodies to the virus after recovery from an infection.
The vaccines currently being administered in the US are also currently not approved for individuals under the age of 16, due to the lack of clinical data for that age group, raising questions about how children under a passport regime would be treated.
Critics fear it marks the rise of a dystopian vaccination surveillance state, where digital ‘vaccine passports’ are required for everything from flying on a plane to going to the movies
And since the vaccination has been much slower than the federal government predicted, with only two million injections so far, a passport system raises concerns about a two-tier society that excludes those who don’t have access to the vaccine.
Australian airline Qantas has already announced that it will require corona virus recordings for all passengers on its international flights.
Companies such as concert halls and live sports, desperate to get audiences back ASAP, have also suggested that vaccine passports could jump-start the economy, an emergency measure until the pandemic is quelled once and for all.
Last month, Ticketmaster announced it would roll out an option in its digital ticket app that would allow event organizers to require proof of vaccination or a recent negative COVID test.
The company quickly withdrew after facing backlash and issued a statement clarifying that “ there is absolutely no requirement from Ticketmaster to make vaccines / testing mandatory for future events. ”
An emergency response officer was vaccinated against the corona virus in Los Angeles last week. The city is one of the first to start issuing a digital vaccination certificate
A number of companies are working on digital vaccination verification systems, including IBM and Clear, a security company that uses biometric technology to confirm the identity of people at airports.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is promoting a vaccine passport called the IATA Travel Pass, which is still under development.
The system would inform passengers of what tests, vaccines and other measures they require before traveling, and provide digital verification of tests and vaccinations to airlines or other authorities.
Heath data faces strict regulations under federal law, which the companies pursuing vaccine passports all claim to comply with.
The patchwork of various proposals has also raised concerns that vaccine verification systems used in one state or country are not compatible with those elsewhere.
The Commons Project, in partnership with The World Economic Forum and a range of public and private partners, hopes to solve that problem with CommonPass, ‘a trusted, globally interoperable platform’.
‘Every time you cross a border, you can be tested. You can’t get vaccinated every time you cross a border, ”Thomas Crampton, The Commons Project’s chief of marketing and communications, told CNN Business.
However, Ramin Bastani, Healthvana’s CEO, questioned whether a vaccine verification service would become ubiquitous across the country.
“It’s not going to be like a credit card you can use in the US,” he told Bloomberg. “Sometimes you can pay in cash, sometimes you can use your Apple Wallet.”