Vaccinations against the coronavirus have become ever more common in the United States. In fact, since they began on December 14, more than 206 million does have been administered, fully vaccinating some 80.6 million people or nearly 25 per cent per cent of the total US population (as of April 16). With these rising numbers, there’s increasing talk about vaccine passports and the concept is stirring passions on both sides of the political aisle. Since the start of the pandemic, health experts and travel industry officials have looked to vaccinations as the fastest and safest way to get the economy moving and to return to the days of unrestricted travel, particularly travel internationally beyond our borders. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issues a paper vaccination card with the CDC logo in the upper corner. This vaccination card tells you what COVID-19 vaccine you received, the date it was administered and where the dose was given. But that information is not being stored in any centralized, easily searchable database. Enter the vaccine passport.
What exactly are these vaccine passports and how will they be used for a safe return to travel? Here’s what the experts claim they aim to accomplish, what their limitations are and where they‘re already being used. For the purpose of travel, vaccine passports are taking shape as free mobile smartphone apps where travelers can upload their proof of vaccination as well as any necessary coronavirus test results or other significant health waivers. The goal here is to digitize individual countries’ paper vaccination certificates into internationally recognized and accepted “passes” for safe travel. Several options for these vaccine passports exist for Americans so far and other nations and regions have also developed, or are in the process of developing their own.
Common Pass was created by the nonprofit Commons Project and has been in use internationally for coronavirus test results since October. The program operates on both IOS and Android devices, functioning as a scannable QR code that securely holds a passenger’s test data or vaccine documentation and travel information while claiming to protect their privacy. This program, which is still in trial use through participating airlines and governments, is available for use only with a participating airline’s invitation code. Since December, passengers have been using Common Pass for testing verification on select flights out of New York, Boston, London and Hong Kong with JetBlue, Lufthansa, Swiss, United and Virgin Atlantic. JetBlue started allowing passengers from Boston to Aruba to use the digital pass in mid-March and plans to eventually roll it out to all departure cities throughout its network.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA), a trade association of the world’s airlines, has its own app currently in the later stages of development that was said to be available for Apple users in mid-April and rolled out to Android users by the end of the month. There’s a portion of the app that will be labeled as a “Contactless Travel Pass.” It aims to enable travelers to create their own “digital passports,” upload official test results and vaccination certificates, verify they’re sufficient for their travel itinerary and then share those certificates with their airline. The IATA app also promises to provide passengers with a registry of health requirements as well as testing and vaccination centers in their area. The pass recently garnered trial use with several international air carriers, including Copa, Emirates, Malaysia and Singapore Airlines. In total, 21 airlines have signed up for this pass and two, Singapore and Qatar Airways, have launched full-fledged pilot programs.
Outside of these privately-developed apps, several countries and regions are creating their own vaccine passports. The European Union Commission President Ursula von der Leyon announced a proposal at the beginning of March for a privacy-friendly vaccine passport for use in Europe. Officials in the European Union hope their “digital green certificates” will be ready by June to allow for summer travel. Passengers would use their pass to show they'd been vaccinated, recovered from the virus or tested negative. This is a closely-watched effort to create a joint vaccination passport for the more than 440 million EU citizens and residents. But, the EU faces economic pressures, discrimination fears and concerns over Europe’s slow vaccination progress. Supporters are hoping these certificates could serve as a model that could be extended to the US and other nations. But the EU lags far behind the US in vaccinations which has raised concerns that their passport plan might be launched prematurely.
Travel industry officials in America recently announced the Biden Administration is in extended discussions with US airlines and other travel industry groups to provide technical guidance for vaccine passports that could be used to safely boost international air travel. The critical question is whether the Federal Government will set standards or guidelines to assure foreign governments that data in US-travelers’ digital passports is accurate. This is complicated by the fact that there are literally thousands of different American entities providing COVID-19 vaccines, including pharmacies, hospitals, schools and mass-vaccination sites. Airline officials privately say that even if the US does not mandate a digital record, other countries may require proof of vaccination in digital format. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters early this month that the administration would soon provide a guideline, “that provides important answers to questions that Americans have, in particular around concerns about privacy, security or discrimination.”
As the nation and indeed the world, struggles to emerge from the worst public health crisis in a century, I’m reminded of the World Health Organization’s “yellow card,” providing international proof of yellow fever vaccination. Today’s development of apps for digital vaccine certification is actually the same thing in a modern-day format offering greater security and acceptance. However, they’ve generated intense debate over whether such proof of vaccination can even be required at all. Legal experts say the answer is generally, “yes.” This stems from an early Twentieth Century Supreme Court ruling that said states could require residents to be vaccinated against smallpox or pay a fine. “A community has a right to protect itself agains an epidemic of disease which threatens the safety of its members,” Justice John Marshall Harlan wrote in Jacobson v. Massachusetts in 1905. But the controversy continues and, in the interim, industry leaders are pushing for their adoption. Many liken these digital vaccination apps to security screening services such as TSA PreCheck and CLEAR, meaning, at the very least, they’re not required but should make the travel experience smoother and less stressful.
Personally, I’m a fan. I think vaccine passports will go far in opening up national borders. That will bring international travel back quicker and make it simpler, easier and more organized than it would be if we had to worry about navigating a myriad of differing entry testing requirements.
Until next time…stay safe.
The vaccine passport sounds like a simple solution but the implementation will be very challenging, as outlined in your post. Once in use would we then face the application of vaccine passports for restaurants, theatres or pubs? - chaos could follow! It will be interesting to see when a standard format is agreed...