Vaccinations are, for some unfathomable reason, a topic of hot debate, and have been so long before the coronavirus pandemic became a thing. From people in tribal South Asia believing that the Polio vaccine sterilizes their children to conspiracy theory mongers in the United States holding firm to vaccines causing autism, there is no end to wild stories and fearful wariness. With everything in between, such as the resources needed to deliver a mass inoculation drive in even a small country, governments and health providers have their work cut out for them.
Vaccine Passports: The COVID-19 Backdrop
The peculiarities of the COVID-19 virus along with the frightening speed of its spread represent the worst pandemic in living memory. The only other event that even comes close is the Spanish Flu pandemic of the 1920s. And even that pales in comparison, since there are new vectors of infection today that did not exist a century ago. From commercial air travel to the food delivered to your doorstep, the virus had many vehicles to use to infect people around them. As is the way with viruses, this soon spiraled out of control and became a full-fledged pandemic.
At a time like this, half-baked research and fake news are more counterproductive than usual. Unlike the Polio virus, a person infected with COVID-19 can transfer it to other people simply by breathing. So people refusing to get vaccinated aren’t just putting themselves at risk, but everyone else around them too. This irresponsible behavior and resistance to inoculation drives extend across demographics and income classes. As a result, many countries in the developed world are considering vaccine passports as a counter measure.
How a Vaccine Passport Works
Vaccine passports are, like your national passport, proof of something. Your national passport proves your citizenship and that you really are who your passport indicates. Early spy movies often show daring spies escaping on commercial airlines with forged passports. But thanks to modern technology and authentication methods, even virtually identical twins can’t fool passport authorities.
Verifiable Proof of Vaccination
A vaccine passport typically only contains information about your inoculation. As far as the detail of the information it contains extends, it covers your name, identification, and date of inoculation. It is meant simply to act as verifiable proof that you got the vaccine. In itself, the passport merely says you are safe to be around, or as safe as possible. And since it is usually issued by a government or an authorized organization, the chances of forgery are ideally minimal.
Protecting The Population Against Potential Carriers
However, the real function of a vaccine passport is far more extensive. Instead of people who have a vaccine passport, it’s the people who lack one that see the full impact. Without a valid passport, most airports would not allow you to board international or domestic flights. Not having a vaccine passport follow the same principle, but not just when you’re boarding your vacation flight. Local government officials could prevent you from boarding public transport, entering public buildings, accessing public spaces, and much more. Regardless of whether you are an anti-vaxxer or pro-inoculation, this is both a solution and a problem, depending on how you look at it.
The Case for Using Vaccine Passports
There are several compelling points that go in favor of a vaccine passport. The biggest one by far is that it can allow governments to keep track of inoculated individuals as well as reduce the risk of uninoculated citizens infected the rest of the population. This in of itself is compelling enough for countries to at least make an effort to create some sort of system that monitors both aspects of the population.
Improving Future Inoculation Iterations
At the same time, keeping track of the symptoms and side effects experienced by inoculated citizens has accruing benefits. It enables health providers and pharmaceuticals to keep a closer eye on complaints or problems cropping up in people who received earlier versions of the inoculation. This in turn gives them useful data to cross-reference and identify areas where they can refine their version of the vaccine. As a result, each subsequent iteration would only improve.
Encouraging Inoculations By Leveraging Workplace Safety
There is a also case to be made for responsibility and safety. Many governments lack the constitutional power to make vaccinations mandatory for all. At most, they can hold a regulatory or overwatch rule. However, workplaces have much stricter views on employee safety. When a corporation holds the purse strings, you can be sure a lot of people would be far more open to getting inoculated. Especially when the alternative is not being allowed back to work. A vaccine passport could serve as the carrot in conjunction with maintaining workplace safety as the stick.
The Argument Against Vaccine Passports
Of course, it is much easier to argue one side of an argument. A truly unbiased consideration should examine the other side as well. While there is really no compelling argument in favor of general anti-vaxxer behavior, there are a few compelling ones against vaccine passports. At the very least, they deserve your consideration so that you can form a more balanced and informed opinion on your own.
Mandatory Vaccination Passports Can Cause Bias
The biggest argument against the use of federally or nationally mandated vaccine passports is the increased risk of discrimination or bias. This bias goes far deeper than simply differentiating between people who get vaccines vs people who don’t. In countries like the US, for example, the population is vast and exceedingly diverse. However, specific vulnerable segments, for example, immigrants, sex workers, racial minorities, and people with certain religious or ethnic backgrounds, are already at an increased disadvantage.
The Bias Hits Already Vulnerable Communities the Hardest
Many are also income insecure, which means they may not be able to afford the necessary treatment. In the case of an immigrant with pending citizenship status, access to healthcare may prove astronomically expensive. Others may have a religious or ethnic predisposition to mistrust government authorities and may choose to opt-out of the inoculation program altogether. The lack of access these segments of society have concerning the support and information they need to make the right decision already places them at a disadvantage. But a vaccine passport could amplify the disadvantage, maybe even making it impossible for non-citizens to find work to afford treatment, inoculation, or a flight back to their home country.
Current Aren’t Made for People with Rare Conditions
Another key demographic that may suffer as a result of mandatory vaccines and passports is people who already have compromised immune systems and immuno-responses. Conditions like diabetes or cardiovascular problems are common enough that most pharmaceuticals account for them in their new drugs and medication. But others are far less common, affecting only a tiny percentage of the global population. However, as a result of rarer conditions, many existing vaccines could be potentially lethal to the individuals that have them. Therefore, a vaccine passport would be discriminating against them simply because their genetics or immune system makeup isn’t “normative”.
