After months of costly closures, closed borders and restrictions on personal freedoms, the concept of vaccine passports is gaining ground with governments eager to unite their path through the next phase of the COVID-19 pandemic.
A number of countries, including China and Israel, have already launched their own forms of certification that are apparently intended to facilitate future international travel or revive activity in severely affected economic sectors, such as hospitality.
Several others weigh in on the example and accept the idea of documentation for those who have been vaccinated against the new coronavirus.
Meanwhile, skeptics warn of a number of widespread side effects that still need to be addressed.
Here’s what you need to know:
What is a vaccine passport?
A vaccine passport can generally be defined as documentation that someone has been inoculated against a virus – in this case, SARS-CoV-2, also known as the new coronavirus.
It can take the form of a signed and stamped certificate or a quick response code (QR) stored on a smartphone.
Israel has issued a government-validated certificate known as the “Green Pass”, which can prove that people have been vaccinated or recovered from COVID-19. [File: Jack Guez/AFP]
The documents could become necessary for a range of activities, from international travel to entering theaters and restaurants, Dave Archard, chairman of the UK’s Naffield Bioethics Council, told Al Jazeera.
Evidence of vaccination could also become a “discriminatory” condition of employment, he warned, or it could lead to a “two-tier society” in which people need documentation to exercise certain social freedoms, such as it would be accessing public spaces or domestic travel within countries.
Why are they being discussed?
With the massive COVID-19 vaccination actions taking place in several countries, vaccination passports have grown to an important level as a potential tool for the safe reopening of borders for international travel and for stimulating economic sectors devastated by restrictions. strict locking.
In theory, the ability to show evidence of vaccination could provide a turning point in the pandemic, allowing countries to receive vaccinated visitors en masse and severely affected businesses – especially those operating in hospitality – to resume trading without fear of the virus.
However, in reality, there are remarkable questions about how such documents would work in practice and urgent concerns about their potential to exacerbate inequalities, erode deprivation and possibly hinder efforts to reduces COVID-19.
Where and how are they used?
Several countries have already launched their own versions of passports or vaccine certificates, despite the lack of a global consensus on their use.
Israel, for example, has issued a government-validated certificate, known as the Green Pass, which allows people to prove that they have been vaccinated or recovered from COVID-19 and therefore assumed immunity.
Permits, which can be printed or stored on a smartphone, are valid for six months from the time of full vaccination. They allow holders to take part in a number of otherwise restricted activities, such as going to the gym, dining at restaurants or attending a theater show, albeit with certain limitations.
The certificate could also allow holders to travel abroad and avoid quarantine requirements. Israel has already signed an agreement with Greece and Cyprus that allows citizens with COVID-19 vaccination certificates to travel unhindered between the three countries.
The discussion on vaccine passports was fueled by the international launch of COVID-19 vaccines [File: Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters]
China has also introduced its own form of vaccine passport in the form of a certificate showing a person’s vaccination status and COVID-19 test results.
It is intended as a digital product, but is also available in paper form and is launched “to promote global economic recovery and facilitate cross-border travel,” according to the country’s foreign ministry.
Bahrain has launched a similar product, while Denmark and Sweden are preparing to launch their own certification schemes. The European Union is considering a blockchain digital certificate that provides proof of vaccination, which could make it easier for Europeans to travel in the coming warm months.
What are the benefits and risks?
Proponents of vaccine passports say they can be used to safely resume international mass travel and unlock frozen savings.
Indeed, proving that someone has been vaccinated against or recovered from COVID-19, vaccine passports, in theory, indicate that an individual is not a potential vector for the virus or is at risk for himself.
“It is said that you are no longer a danger and this gives you certain privileges that you would not have if you were a danger. So, having vaccine passports makes sense from this perspective, “Nobel Prize-winning American economist Joseph Stiglitz told Al Jazeera.
But unless we are able to make sure that there is access to vaccines for everyone, this introduces significant inequity. ”
Stiglitz’s warning is one of the most pressing concerns raised by skeptics about vaccine passports – namely that global inequality in access to doses means that any certification launch would unfairly discriminate against those in countries with fewer vaccine offers. vaccine.
Even as doses become more uniformly available globally, the current range of vaccines used and their varying rates of efficacy at the same time reduce the prospect of creating any kind of uniform certification, Danny Altmann, professor of immunology at Imperial College London, said Al Jazeera .
“We have billions of people who have not had variable access to any vaccine or vaccines in different countries that have a very different immunogenicity, and [have been] tested in significantly different antibody assays. How can this make a unique international documentation system for all sizes? ” he said.