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- Republicans are pushing against the use of vaccine passports, calling them authoritative.
- But experts say digital health passes could get us back to normal faster.
- A vaccine passport “can make all the things we love to do safer,” an expert told Insider.
- See more stories on the Insider business page.
As more Americans get vaccinated, Republicans are increasingly pushing back against local governments and companies that institute the use of “vaccine passports.”
GOP lawmakers and leading conservatives have decried the move as akin to intrusive surveillance tactics employed by the Chinese government, but health experts say it’s overkill and some form of health pass digital could be crucial in bringing back a sense of normalcy in the United States.
“Vaccine passports, if done right and fairly, can help us get back to normal more quickly. They can make all the things we love to do safer: travel, go to a sporting event, go back to work. “Lawrence Gostin, director of the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University Law Center, told Insider.
“What we’ve seen in this pandemic is that anything can be politicized, whether it’s a mask or a vaccine, whatever it is. But the truth is that vaccines are not only our best way out of this pandemic, they are our only way out of this pandemic – because it is clear that we cannot change our behavior, ”continued Gostin.
The vaccines will eventually bring us to herd immunity and “we’ll get back to normal anyway,” Gostin said, but added that “in the meantime, we can come back faster with some kind of a pass. digital health “.
Conservatives call vaccine passports ‘dystopian’
Criticism of the GOP’s vaccine passport initiatives and number proposals comes as Republican voters show higher levels of vaccine reluctance than other groups.
Donald Trump Jr. in a tweet Monday said “authoritarian leftists want a Chinese-style social credit system here in America,” adding that vaccine passports through government or the private sector “would create a two-tier caste system.”
Former Representative Justin Amash, a libertarian-leaning ex-Republican who became independent before leaving Congress earlier this year, tweeted, “No vaccination passport. It doesn’t get much more dystopian than having to show your ‘health papers’ wherever you go.”
But Amash faced a swift reaction, especially since requiring proof of COVID-19 vaccination wouldn’t be particularly different from vaccines that have already been required to travel to various countries over the years. . Not to mention that all 50 states have legislation that requires certain immunizations for children in public schools.
In this sense, Democratic Senator Brian Schatz told Amash he respected him “very much”, but added that “we are already doing it and everything is fine”.
Ron DeSantis, the Republican Governor of Florida, has pledged to take executive action to ban the use of vaccine passports in his state. “It is completely unacceptable for the government or the private sector to impose on you an obligation to show proof of vaccine just to be able to participate in normal society,” DeSantis said on Monday.
Some experts are also concerned about vaccine passports, but say they can work if done right
Beyond the politicization of this issue by Republican lawmakers, some health experts and civil liberties groups have also expressed concerns that vaccine passports could negatively impact already marginalized groups.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) raised ethical questions regarding “immunity passports” as early as May 2020, well before any vaccine was approved, warning that they “could exacerbate existing racial disparities, harm people. workers of color and people with disabilities in particular. ”
Months after vaccine distribution began, experts continue to express similar concerns.
“Immunity passports promise a way to return to a more normal social and economic life, but the benefits they generate will be unevenly distributed and it is not clear that they are ethical”, Nicole Hassoun and Anders Herlitz, specialists in public health ethics, wrote in Scientific American earlier this month.
“On the one hand, immunity passports offer employees the opportunity to return to work and families to reunite,” they wrote. “On the other hand, they will not be accessible to everyone, and they will worsen existing inequalities.”
The World Health Organization has also said it does not support the requirement of proof of COVID-19 vaccination for international travel, citing the limited availability of vaccines.
Governments around the world have discussed requiring some form of proof of vaccination in order to travel and participate in other activities, and these have already been implemented in some places.
Last month, vaccinated Israelis started getting a “green pass” that allows them to access sites and events. EU leaders have supported the use of a ‘digital green certificate’ which would provide digital proof of vaccination and allow travel within the EU.
The White House announced Monday that it would leave the issue of vaccine passports to the private sector.
Meanwhile, New York on Friday became the first state in the country to introduce a vaccine-checking app, which was tested earlier this month at games for the Brooklyn Nets and New York Rangers. New York opens access to vaccines to all adults in early April.
Gostin stressed that equitable distribution of vaccines is crucial to demanding some form of digital health pass.
“It has to be done right. We can’t do it until you have a vaccine shortage,” Gostin said. “You have to make sure you have enough vaccines so that anyone who wants a vaccine can get vaccinated, otherwise it’s totally unfair. And even then, you have to make sure you don’t leave anyone behind – disadvantaged people and for some reason or another don’t want or can’t get the shot. Fairness has to be a big part of it. “
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