The steady move towards a less restricted pandemic life has left many Californians looking ahead to dusting passports they haven’t used in a year. A rumor is also emerging about another type of credential that could come into play: vaccine passports.
The idea of vaccine passports is still embryonic, but controversial in the United States – New York launched the first one last week, but Florida banned them on Friday. It focuses on digital credentials that verify proof of vaccination against coronavirus. The pass can be similar to boarding passes for planes. But it is more broadly predicted for a variety of environments where admission may require a vaccination precondition to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
California officials have not said whether they are considering this type of credential, but other governments and industries have already adopted their own versions. The basic idea is that such a tool can guarantee security as soon as businesses, entertainment venues and other venues reopen.
But some public health experts fear that vaccine passports may further harm communities of color, given that there are still widespread barriers for underprivileged communities to access the vaccine and the fact that California vaccinated more whites than blacks and Latinos together. yet.
The potential violation of rights and privacy concerns third parties. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis issued an executive order on Friday prohibiting companies from requiring customers to provide evidence that they were vaccinated to obtain the service and preventing government agencies from issuing such documentation. “Vaccination passports reduce individual freedom and impair patient privacy,” says the order.
Last week, New York launched a vaccine passport app, which people can use to share their COVID-19 vaccination records and test results with businesses and entertainment venues. The New York Excelsior Pass app uses a QR code that can be read for input and is linked to test data from pre-approved testing companies, according to a TimeOut article.
The White House has spearheaded an interagency process on the matter, but on Monday said it would not issue a federal passport for the vaccine or require people to obtain a credential by checking their vaccines. The White House said it would leave the development of these programs to the private sector, in an open market.
The government said it would not create a “centralized database of universal federal vaccinations”.
The idea of credentials has a foot abroad, however. Israel, with the highest vaccination rate per capita in the world, has started issuing “green passes” to vaccinated residents. The European Union is working on developing its own travel vaccine certificate, the news reports report.
But California officials are not saying what they will do, if anything.
“We have nothing to announce at this point on the subject,” Darrel Ng, a spokesman for the California Department of Public Health, told a Chronicle reporter this week.
Some private companies have said they will require vaccines as soon as the reopening occurs, including several cruise companies: American Cruise Lines, American Steamboat Co. and UnCruise Adventures, according to Forbes. More than 20 airlines are also testing the International Air Transport Association’s Travel Pass, which would allow passengers to share the COVID-19 test and vaccination information with authorities in a digital application.
The San Francisco Giants announced a mandate on Thursday for fans at Oracle Park to present proof of vaccination or negative test, although not using a passport system. CEO Larry Baer said, “We understand the drawbacks here, but we also hear from our fans that they want the safest experience possible.”
To enter the stadium, fans can show an electronic or paper copy of the negative test result or complete vaccination. Adults over 18 can also use the CLEAR Health Pass to demonstrate a negative COVID-19 test.
Oakland A’s, on the other hand, will not require secure documentation for fans’ coronaviruses.
The Golden State Warriors have not yet decided to demand such proof from Chase Center fans. And it is still unclear which of the other locations may require this as a condition of entry. San Francisco’s Outside Lands music festival, scheduled for next Halloween weekend, said it would post the final coronavirus protocols before the festival.
The vaccination test has its benefits, namely, ensuring that individuals do not expose others to COVID-19. But, as with other aspects of the vaccine launch, public health experts question whether equity gaps will persist, leaving out certain communities if the idea spreads.
Access problems are already evident for poor communities. Only 4% of vaccines at the Oakland Coliseum mass vaccination site – which was supposed to serve the surrounding community – went to blacks and more than 40% to whites, state data show.
This demonstrates “why it is so important to have access to the vaccine in all communities, so that everyone who wants the vaccine can receive it,” said Dr. Neil Powe, chief medical officer at San Francisco General Hospital. Not everyone has a smartphone to download a vaccine passport app or know how to use it, he said.
David Magnus, director of the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics, had a similar opinion.
“At the moment, vaccine passports are not ethically a good idea or scientifically a good idea,” he said, adding that the biomedical ethics community is generally in agreement on the matter. “From a scientific point of view … we don’t know how long immunity lasts.
“Right now, I think it is very likely that if passports were introduced, they would lead to another inequality in society and another form of discrimination against the poor and people of color,” he said.
Meghan Bobrowsky is a writer for the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @MeghanBobrowsky