Just like a national passport, a vaccine passport could allow the bearer entrance to a venue, like a crowded concert, or a foreign country that demands proof of vaccination in addition to a visa and valid national passport.
Vaccination cards from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention aren’t quite the same as a vaccine passport. Though they are a record of what vaccine a person got and when, they can easily be forged.
A vaccine passport is just proof that a person has been immunized against Covid-19. It could be in the form of a smartphone app or a written certificate, for those who don’t have smartphones.
Some health experts argue that such proof of vaccination can be the ticket back to normalcy. It could reward people for getting vaccinated by allowing them into a crowded concert or ballgame, and offer them peace of mind that the person next to them has been immunized, too — thus helping to make crowded places safer.
New York was the first state to issue a digital vaccine passport using IBM’s Excelsior Pass app that displays a personalized QR code verifying vaccine status. The state tested the app at a Brooklyn Nets basketball game and a New York Rangers hockey game last month.
He cited personal freedom and privacy issues.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott this week signed an order prohibiting the state’s agencies from requiring a vaccine for any service.
Who issues vaccine passports?
There’s a lot of talk and debate about the passports, but hardly anyone is issuing them yet — though they are available in New York to vaccinated residents.
“The government is not now, nor will we be, supporting a system that requires Americans to carry a credential,” Psaki said at a news briefing. “There will be no federal vaccinations database and no federal mandate requiring everyone to obtain a single vaccination credential.”
“VCI’s vision is to empower individuals to obtain an encrypted digital copy of their immunization credentials to store in…
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