Like a national passport, a vaccine passport can give the bearer access to a venue, such as a busy concert, or a foreign country that requires a vaccination certificate in addition to a visa and a valid national passport.
Vaccination cards from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are not quite the same as a vaccine passport. While they are a record of what vaccine a person received and when, they can be easily faked.
A vaccine passport is just proof that a person has been vaccinated against Covid-19. It can be in the form of a smartphone app or a written certificate, for those who don’t have smartphones.
Some health experts argue that such proof of vaccination can be the ticket to the normal state. It could reward people for getting vaccinated by admitting them to a busy concert or ball game, and give them the peace of mind that the person next to them has also been immunized – thus making busy places safer.
New York was the first state to issue a digital vaccine passport using IBM’s Excelsior Pass app, which displays a personalized QR code that verifies vaccine status. The state tested the app last month during a Brooklyn Nets basketball game and a hockey game at the New York Rangers.
He mentioned personal freedom and privacy issues.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed an injunction this week banning government agencies from requiring a vaccine for any agency.
Who issues vaccine passports?
Passports are widely discussed and debated, but hardly anyone is issuing them – although they are available to vaccinated residents in New York.
“The government does not support now, and we will not be, for a system that requires Americans to carry ID,” Psaki said at a news conference. “There will be no federal vaccination database and there will be no federal mandate requiring everyone to obtain a single vaccination record.”
“VCI’s vision is to enable individuals to obtain and store an encrypted digital copy of their immunization data in a digital wallet of their choice,” the group said in a January press release announcing its creation. “Those without a smartphone could receive paper printed with QR codes with W3C verifiable credentials.”
Like it or not, people who want to travel abroad may soon need a vaccine passport to enter certain countries, or it can help them avoid quarantine once they arrive.
Israel has already instituted a vaccine passport, which allows holders to go to restaurants and gyms.
While eligibility for travel has been the primary focus until now, some use of passports to regulate access to social and recreational gatherings, workplaces or schools seems imminent; For example, Israel’s green passes allow access to otherwise restricted locations such as hotels and gyms. , restaurants, theaters and music venues, and New York’s ‘Excelsior Pass’ allows attending theaters, arenas, event venues and large weddings, ”the article said.
Pros and Cons of a Vaccine Passport
The pros and cons of requiring a vaccine passport were encapsulated by business owners and managers in Florida, where passports are banned.
Rocco Mangel, who owns Rocco’s Tacos and Tequila Bar in Delray Beach, said he has been vaccinated and would like others to be, but that his customers must have proof of vaccination to enter the restaurant ‘violates their rights, ‘he told CNN.
“I really think you would have people who were offended and the impression that we are trying to control them,” Mangel said.
But Judy Lisi, CEO of the Straz Center for the Performing Arts in Tampa, Florida, says the governor’s ban could hurt business.
“When you think of big gathering places, like theaters, stadiums and arenas, we’re sitting side by side,” Lisi said. “So it becomes really important to have a vaccine program as an option for our guests and for our artists.”
Critics of vaccination certificates cite privacy concerns, Lisi said, but “don’t people have the right to be safe? Don’t people have the right, once they’ve had a vaccine, to come in and know that other people have been vaccinated too?” “
CNN’s Randi Kaye contributed to this report.