Vaccine requirements are spreading in the US, raising concerns about too much coverage

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The vaccination requirements for Covid-19 are fast becoming facts of life in the US, scattering the company by company even as politicians and privacy advocates complain against them.

Brown, Notre Dame and Rutgers are among the universities warning students and staff they need shots to return to campus this fall. Some sports teams require proof of vaccination or negative test from fans when the arenas reopen. Want to see your favorite band play indoors in California? The same rules apply at larger locations. A hospital chain in Houston recently ordered its 26,000 employees to be vaccinated.

But it’s another matter of how people prove they’ve had their injections or that they’re Covid-free. Republican politicians and privacy advocates are full of so-called vaccination passports, and some states are trying to restrict their use.

Given the fraught politics, many companies “don’t necessarily want to be the first in their industry to take the plunge,” said Carmel Shachar, executive director of the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology and Bioethics at Harvard Law School. Still, “we’ll see employers start demanding vaccinations if you want to come to the office, if you want a job in public.”

While there may be a resurgence among companies asking if they can demand vaccinations, few are willing to make that commitment. The Biden administration is leaving the matter to the private sector, and White House press secretary Jen Psaki said this week that the U.S. government will not. issue vaccine passports. They are usually understood as smartphone apps that show that the holder has been immunized against Covid, eliminating the need to bring the paper card along with completed vaccinations.

“It would be a simple check to employers,” said Susan Kline, an employment law attorney in Indianapolis. “But when you start to say that everyone has to show their passport, there start to be a lot of obstacles.”

Read more: A vaccine passport is the new golden ticket as the world reopens

The provisions follow the same haphazard pattern that has characterized so much of the pandemic response in the US, ranging from company to company, state to state and subject to the whims of local politics. But it is clear that vaccination regulations will become an ongoing concern for anyone who works in or patronizes an American company.

Partisan issue

Public health measures became a partisan issue as soon as former President Donald Trump began to downplay the pandemic, and heated discussions arose about its seriousness, mask wearing and government-imposed lockdowns. Vaccine requirements and passports have become the latest flashpoints.

Idahoans should be given the choice of getting the vaccine. We must not violate Idaho’s personal freedoms by requiring them to receive them, ”said Republican Governor of Idaho Brad Little on Wednesday after signing an executive order prohibiting vaccination against people seeking public services. Florida and Texas governors have issued similar orders.

“Vaccine passports create different classes of citizens,” said Little.

And yet New York State has unveiled its ‘Excelsior Pass’ smartphone app to quickly prove vaccination or a clean test. The widely used Clear airport check-in system will soon be offering its own version.

Many companies have so far opted for a lighter approach. In reopening offices, they have strongly encouraged employees to get vaccinated but no longer need it. That is also the case for Amazon, which offers frontline workers a whopping $ 80 to be immunized, and Walmart, which takes photos in its stores and gives employees two hours of paid time off to get theirs.

A recent survey by the consulting firm Mercer Total Health Management found that 73% of employers do not intend to require vaccination.

“People don’t want to comment on that feels as a hostile relationship within their workforce, ”said Mary Kay O’Neill, Mercer’s senior clinical advisor. “Employers are just trying to be supportive and facilitating to get the vaccine without it being a rule.”

The Houston Methodist health care system is taking a different tack. The CEO gave managers an email from March to mid-April to get their first dose or a waiver. He has not specified a deadline for other employees. “Thank you for the vaccination and thank you for leading your staff to make the right decision to help protect our patients,” wrote CEO Marc Boom.

Rules are increasing even in employees’ free time. The Boston Marathon may require runners to produce two negative Covid tests for the October event. “Official participants will receive more information on testing timelines and requirements in the coming months,” warned the Boston Athletic Association.

Privacy concerns

Civil liberties advocates are concerned about the privacy implications of any passport system.

Alexander Howard, a Washington-based information privacy expert and director of the Digital Democracy Project, said such phone apps could allow personal information to enter government or private databases through stadium entrances, airport boarding gate, or anywhere the devices are swept.

“We have a supercomputer in our pocket that gives us divine powers, but it can also be used against us,” he said.

Still, some who have had their photos see the advantage of being able to prove it quickly. Julio Elizalde, a 36-year-old San Francisco Bay concert pianist, said a vaccination passport would make his life so much easier – and cheaper – starting in June, when he performs in Taipei. He has to arrive three weeks in advance for quarantine, he said, trying to book a hotel or private residence that can equip him with a baby wing so he can exercise.

“Actually, I was completely vaccinated,” said Elizalde. “I wish I could prove I had my two shots.”

Some legal experts have warned that because vaccines only have federal emergency clearance, companies cannot demand them. But that issue is “a bit of a red herring,” Harvard’s Shachar said, because the vaccine data is so strong, the shots are so effective, and the virus so dangerous.

Many universities already require students to have vaccinations for other illnesses. They say they are tough enough to mandate coronavirus vaccines, said Emily Morgese, a vice president of the Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities in New York, a group for administrators. However, implementation can be tricky, especially for schools with a large international population.