Durham, NC – As more people around the world get vaccinated against coronavirus, the concept of a “vaccine passport” to demonstrate one’s immune status when traveling or attending a large-scale event is gaining traction in some places and causing controversy in others.
Airlines and the British government are testing digital documents, while Republican governors in several US states have banned them, calling them a threat to personal freedom and privacy.
Nita Farahany, a professor of law and philosophy at Duke University and founding director of Duke Science & Society, said Wednesday that the benefits of a vaccine passport far outweigh the risks.
“It doesn’t mean we can’t ask for vaccinations in certain contexts. We can and do do that,” Farahany said. “The question is whether or not these passports are suitable for use by society in all areas and I think the answer at this point should be no.”
Unlike the vaccines most children need to receive before they can enroll in school, she said, coronavirus vaccines are not widely available and none have been officially approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Medications – all are administered in an emergency. authorizations.
Making vaccination a condition of being able to go to a restaurant or workplace or board a plane “forces people to become participants in research,” she said, noting that Moderna is still collecting health information about her. seven months after participating in one of the clinical trials with the vaccine.
Vaccine passports also give people a false sense of security, she said, given that health experts are not sure how easily people who have been immunized can spread the virus to others, including children.
Another issue is equity, Farahany said. Many people in poorer areas have less access to vaccinations than others, she said, which would put them at an economic disadvantage if a vaccine passport were required for certain activities.
“If we condition participation in society on the basis of access to a vaccine,” she said, “I see a growing gap. Jobs lost during the pandemic will now go to people who have had access to the vaccine.”
Privacy issues also need to be addressed, Farahany said.
The concept of the vaccine passport began as the simple vaccination card that was given to people after their first shot, so that they could schedule exactly the second dose, depending on the vaccine they were given. But because they were easily counterfeited, especially after people posted photos with their cards, with all the identifying information, on social networks, various technology companies said they could provide a digital document.
Transferring vaccination status to people who are not bound by health privacy standards could open the door for more biometric information to be passed on to these companies later, Farahady said.
“It’s not just whether or not we have information stored and shared with others. It is the context in which we share [and] who has access to it, “she said. In emergencies and in times of crisis, there are times when we have given up most rights and then we can never overturn them. “