What’s the deal with vaccine passports?

When COVID-19 rocked the entire globe, anyone remotely connected to the travel industry thought, “how will we start traveling safely as soon as possible?” The idea of a vaccine passport was tossed around fairly early on in the conversation and has seemed to be the one to stick the most.

In theory, a vaccine passport is a form of documentation that you have had a certain vaccine protecting you from a specific disease common to the area you are traveling to or from and thus allowing you into the country. Vaccine Passports are not a new idea. For example, you must show proof of yellow fever vaccinations prior to visiting some countries, like Ghana and Brazil.

In practice so far, it hasn’t been an issue for those traveling. You know that you want to be protected against yellow fever, typhoid, Japanese Encephalitis, etc. Since COVID-19 has become a hyper-politicized disease, with a large percentage of Americans believing the disease never truly existed, the conversation around the idea of a vaccine passport is coming to light in some (not-so) surprising ways. I’ll be breaking down the pros and the cons, and which countries have already implemented the use of a vaccine passport for their own citizens, and the need for those traveling into their countries.

The implementation of a vaccine passport for COVID-19 would allow you to travel more freely while also bypassing restrictions such as either quarantining or testing. Whether this would be a physical card or some form of digital documentation is still unknown.

Who has implemented it already?

A few countries have already enforced vaccine passports for COVID-19 not only for traveling but also for access to certain businesses. So far, Israel has issued “green passes,” while China and Bahrain have issued digital passports. Georgia, Estonia, Poland, and Seychelles only require proof of vaccination (which batch number) to bypass certain restrictions such as testing or quarantining (Estonia, I’m on my way, my love!)

Finally, the US, UK, EU, Malaysia, and Singapore have all discussed what a vaccine passport would look like for their citizens. New York state has created the Excelsior Pass that creates a QR code as proof of either full COVID-19 vaccination or a recent negative test in order to return to large gatherings.

Some things to consider

When implementing something at this scale, there are always a host of challenges and questions.

Equity and Access

Not only in regards to a vaccine passport but a vaccine in general. There have already been some bumps in the road in regards to vaccine rollout, and those in low and middle-income countries do have access to COVID-19 vaccines and may not until 2023 or later. Even within the US, black and Hispanic people have been vaccinated at lower rates than white people.

It is also still an ongoing conversation how those who are either ineligible or unable to receive a COVID-19 vaccine (children under 16, medical exceptions, and those with religious objections) would be included in a vaccine passport system.

Finally, the process to sign up for vaccine passports may be an additional hurdle to overcome and could have the potential to be discriminatory.

Diverse authorization and approval

We’ve seen different countries approving different vaccines. Some vaccines used in one country may not be recognized or accepted in another, thus raising questions about how to certify different vaccines for the purpose of a vaccine passport.

For example, Iceland has said that only vaccines approved by the European Medicines Agency or the WHO will be recognized in order to bypass screening and quarantine requirements; therefore, those vaccinated with the Russian Sputnik V vaccine or one of the Chinese-developed vaccines would be excluded.

Mutual acknowledgment of passports

Countries that have already implemented or plan to issue COVID-19 vaccine passports will need to come to an agreement with other countries in order to have these passports recognized for travel. We’re already seeing some limitations in this regard as the EU’s proposal would allow a vaccinated EU citizen to travel freely across the EU, but not outside. Israel has signed an agreement with Cyprus and Greece, while Malaysia and Singapore are considering a similar agreement.

The US has not discussed publicly what standard or form of proof we would accept for international travelers. This has created a pretty fragmented approach so far, and will likely continue to be so across the US when considering how “red” and “blue” states have already discussed their feelings on a vaccine passport.

Scientific considerations

The scientific community is unsure how long the vaccine works in preventing or reducing transmission. Israel’s green pass is only valid for six months starting the week after vaccination. So these vaccine passports will need to consider each vaccine’s unique “immunity profile,” which becomes even more difficult with variants.

Privacy and security

Especially among Americans, the issue of privacy and security is very important. Where would the individual’s information be stored? If it is stored in a centralized database, we are well aware of recent data breaches. Among these questions would also be who would control the data and have the main oversight over this information.

Encourage those to get vaccinated

One positive of a vaccine passport is hopefully encouraging those who are hesitant to get the vaccine to get one so they can travel again. Not only do we need to look out for ourselves, but we also need to look out for those we interact with while traveling and in our day-to-day lives.

Finally, I believe there will be an increase in calls for a vaccine passport, or something similar in order to find a way to balance public health concerns while seeking a return to some sense of normalcy. There are some significant challenges to overcome in terms of those mentioned above, but I believe we will come out at the other end of the tunnel soon.