Idea of vaccine ‘passports’ not as scary as it sounds

I got it!

After working my way through a labyrinth of websites and telephone numbers and waiting lists, I finally received my first of two scheduled coronavirus vaccination shots.

Halfway there, I told myself. After a year of COVID-19 lockdowns, the slight soreness in my upper left arm is thoroughly mitigated by my overall sense of relief.

I also received something unexpected after my “jab,” as the British refer to such shots: A card slightly larger than a business card that documents what shot I received and what time I was scheduled to return three weeks later for the second dose.

And, as I sat through the mandatory 15 minutes to see whether any side effects turned me into a zombie, it occurred to me that I had joined a new class, the COVID-19-vaccinated, which marks the beginning of another hot-button political issue: COVID-19 passports.

No, I’m not talking about those yellow passport-sized travel certificates that the federal government issues to show that you’ve been vaccinated against yellow fever and similar hazards in some countries overseas.

I’m talking about government-issued cards, smartphone apps and other possible instruments of health verification that are being considered to help keep the coronavirus out of mass gatherings.

We’re all eager to open up public life and the economy again. But if you think required mask-wearing, Zoom churchgoing, socially distanced beach parties and other mass cocooning are volatile issues, the domestic vaccine passports idea, whether by cards or smartphone apps, is downright nuclear.

Social media, for example, lit up like a fireworks factory fire after reports in November that Ticketmaster might require concertgoers to provide proof of vaccination or negative virus tests to attend events. (“Yikes,” responded one tweet, “I can’t wait for y’all to go out of business.”)

In a statement on their website, Ticketmaster strongly denied any such plans and, besides, any health or safety decisions would be up to event planners, not the ticket sellers.

I understand the resistance some people have to the idea of COVID-19 passports. When I heard about the ideas, I was reminded of apartheid South Africa, where I reported on some of the uprisings against the white-minority government in the 1970s.

All urban South Africans, in particular, were required to carry a domestic passport-style “pass.” But Black South Africans were far more likely to be stopped and arrested if they failed to produce one.

Indeed, there is a slippery slope to being forced to carry an ID. But, just as most of us see the need for driver’s licenses, we should be smart enough to put proper limits on how much personal information we are required to share.

After all, this debate appears to be only beginning. Overseas, such passport-like COVID-19 documents have been rolled out in Israel. Several European countries are considering similar plans, and President Joe Biden is reported to have asked federal agencies to explore the possibilities.

Considering our nationwide eagerness to get back to what we used to call normal, the idea of domestic passports has obvious appeal, despite the constant complaints of vaccine skeptics, if it means we can get out of our houses safely and sooner.

Now that I have my vaccination, the idea of carrying proof of it doesn’t sound so scary.

Middletown native Clarence Page writes for the Chicago Tribune.