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LONDON (Reuters) – Governments and developers around the world are exploring the potential use of ‘vaccine passports’ as a way to reopen the economy by identifying those who are protected against the coronavirus.
However, those who develop the technologies claim that such tools have consequences such as the potential exclusion of entire groups from social participation, and urge lawmakers to think seriously about how they are used.
The travel and entertainment industries, which have struggled to operate at a profit while enforcing social distancing rules, are particularly interested in a way to quickly verify who has protection.
Among those developing passports are biometric firm iProov and cybersecurity firm Mvine, which have built a vaccine pass that is currently being tested within the UK National Health Service after receiving funding from the UK government.
Andrew Bud, founder and CEO of iProov, believes these vaccine passports should only contain two pieces of information.
“First, has this person been vaccinated? And the other, what does this person look like?
You only need to match a face to a vaccination status, you don’t need to know a person’s identity, he added.
Confirmation of clients’ vaccination status could help the overnight economy, which employs some 420,000 people in the city of Manchester, in northern England, to come to its knees, experts say.
“We have to find out how to get back to normal,” said Sacha Lord, industry advisor and co-founder of the city’s Parklife music festival.
Although there have been experiences of concerts and social distancing events over the past year, they were not financially viable, he said.
“A concert is not a concert or a festival is not a festival unless you are side by side with your friends.
“I don’t think we should be forcing people to get vaccine passports. It should be a choice. But at the entrance, if you don’t have that passport, we’ll give you another option, ”he added, suggesting the use of rapid-result coronavirus tests.
Bud said vaccination certificates are being rolled out in some countries and that in the United States, some private sector health passes are being used to admit clients to sporting events.
“I think vaccination certificates raise huge social and political issues. Our job is to provide the technological basis to make passports and vaccination certificates possible … It is not for us to judge whether this is a good idea or not, ”he said.
Potential issues could arise around discrimination, privileges and exclusion of the younger generation who would be the last to be vaccinated, he said, adding that he believed the government was giving it careful thought.
Reporting by Natalie Thomas; Written by Alexandra Hudson; Edited by Mike Collett-White
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