Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
‘Passports’ could be ticket back to normal
DeSantis wants proof of vaccination banned
It’s an idea that some see as a ticket back to normal: Require proof of a COVID19 vaccine to take a cruise, board a flight or attend a concert.
Already, one South Florida culinary festival is incorporating vaccine status into its virus safety protocols, and New York has launched a cellphone app that can be used at entertainment and sporting venues to show digital proof of a COVID shot.
But these immunization credentials, commonly known as vaccine passports, could be banned in
Florida before they even get started.
Gov. Ron DeSantis is vowing to prohibit government or private businesses from requiring vaccine passports, saying they amount to a Big Brother intrusion on the public’s privacy and an overreach by government and corporations.
“It is completely unacceptable for either the government or the private sector to impose upon you the requirement that you show proof of vaccine to just simply be able to participate in society,” DeSantis said.
The issue will play out in coming months as employees return to offices, and the entertainment and tourism industry emerges from more than a year of pandemic safeguards. Ethical and legal questions abound as to how far businesses and governments should go in requiring proof of vaccination.
Vaccines and COVID safeguards
Just over three months into vaccination efforts, one South Florida festival is already incorporating vaccine status into its COVID-19 safety protocols.
The South Beach Food and Wine Festival is asking ticket holders to attest they either have been vaccinated or have received a negative COVID-19 PCR test no more than 72 hours before the event.
“We’re just trying to do what we think is right,” said Lee Brian Schrager, the event’s director. “I’d be lying to you if I didn’t get a lot of hate mail saying, ‘Are you Hitler?’ for putting these COVID checks in effect.”
Schrager said he’s unsure how DeSantis’ push to ban vaccine passports could affect those guidelines for the event that runs from May 20-23. DeSantis has said he will issue an executive order and then work with the Florida Legislature on a permanent ban. The specific details haven’t been made public.
The Miami Heat is moving ahead with a plan to set aside two seating sections for fully vaccinated fans, despite DeSantis’ call to ban vaccine passports. Since fans were first allowed to the basketball team’s games in January, the Heat has made tickets available to everyone, regardless of whether they have been vaccinated. Seating is well under capacity and socially distanced, and fans arriving are screened by COVID-detection dogs, unless they opt to bypass the screening dogs and get a coronavirus test at the arena for entry.
The Heat maintains that the vaccination-only sections are similar to other restricted seating available at sporting events, such as family and alcohol-free sections.
Elsewhere, New York has launched the Excelsior Pass, a voluntary phone app the state created in partnership with IBM. The app can be scanned like an airline boarding pass to provide digital proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test. Art and entertainment venues, stadiums, arenas, weddings and catered events can opt into the program. Unlike Florida, New York made a negative COVID test a requirement to attend events at large venues.
Israel has launched “Green Pass,” which allows those who have been fully vaccinated to participate in activities like concerts that had been curtailed by COVID-19 restrictions.
The White House has ruled out the creation of a national vaccine passport for Americans, saying it is leaving it to the private sector to develop a system. President Joe Biden’s administration is developing guidelines for such passports, but the details have not been announced.
Philip Dufour, president of a D.C.-based events company, said clients are asking for catering staff and other event employees to be vaccinated as a safety precaution, and he thinks businesses should have that flexibility. Dufour’s company, The Dufour Collaborative, organizes galas and banquets nationwide, including in South Florida.
“As a business owner, you should be able to decide,” he said. “If a client wants to require everyone be vaccinated, they should be able to do that.”
Vaccine passports could also help entice tourists to return to cruise ships.
The consumer-oriented website CruiseCritic.com found that 86% of the site’s regular users said they would be more likely or much more likely to cruise if crew members were required to get vaccinated and test negative.
Michele Alakozai, a cruise ship enthusiast from New York City, said even though she is fully vaccinated, she wouldn’t book a cruise unless she knew others on board would be vaccinated, too.
“I would not consider going on a cruise unless the entire population on the ship was required to be fully vaccinated 10 days prior to sailing,” she said.
’A very dangerous precedent’
Local businesses and industry groups didn’t show a strong desire to implement vaccine passports when contacted by the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
The Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association “supports individual freedom of choice when it comes to Floridians and our valued visitors deciding what level of comfort they have patronizing businesses and participating in public activities,” spokeswoman Ashley Chambers wrote in an email. The Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention and Visitors Bureau doesn’t have a position on the issue, a spokeswoman said.
Shawn Thornton, chief commercial officer for the BB&T Center, said that venue will “continue to monitor CDC guidelines, local ordinances and trends and develop our policies for the best and safest fan experiences.”
Most businesses are not likely to ramp up a passport program for employees because of the costs and time it would take to administer one, said Joe Santoro, a labor and employment attorney for the Gunster law firm in West Palm Beach.
Moreover, DeSantis signed a measure Monday that will protect businesses from COVID-19-related lawsuits, which reduces the need for businesses to require employee vaccinations.
“What the governor signed yesterday goes a long way to help businesses make the decision not to mandate it,” Santoro said.
The federal Americans with Disabilities Act also makes it difficult to mandate vaccines for employees and customers, because some could have a medical reason for not getting the shot, he said.
Troy Ganter, owner of Papa’s Raw Bar in Lighthouse Point, said he would never require a proof of vaccination test for employees or guests.
“I don’t want to be part of sending a bad perception that we’re unsafe, but I also don’t have the right to restrict guests from coming in without a COVID vaccine,” he said.
Others fear vaccine passports could trample on freedoms.
Vaccinations requirements are not unprecedented. Children are required to be vaccinated against childhood diseases to attend public schools with medical and religious exemptions in place. Some hospitals require their employees get flu shots. Proof of vaccination is a requirement for travel to some countries.
But Ed Pozzuoli, CEO of Tripp Scott Law Firm in Fort Lauderdale, said he is concerned about the scale of a vaccination passport requirement for the COVID19 shot, which he says would hurt businesses and potentially violate the right to peacefully assemble.
“It is a very bad precedent from a constitutional and pure freedom standpoint to allow this idea of a vaccine passport,” said Pozzuoli, a DeSantis supporter. “That’s a very dangerous precedent.”
Political calculations
DeSantis’ opposition to vaccine passports aligns with how he has handled the pandemic, said Aubrey Jewett, a political science professor at the University of Central Florida.
He’s favored a handsoff approach, passing on a statewide mask requirement and prohibiting local governments from fining individuals who violate local mandates. DeSantis has encouraged vaccines, but he’s insisted repeatedly the public will not be forced to get the shot.
Polling shows a political divide in the public’s willingness to take the vaccine. Nearly half of Republican men said they won’t get the vaccine, compared with just 6% of Democratic men, according to an NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist survey earlier this month.
While other nations are working to create vaccine passport programs, the idea could be a tough political sell in the United States, particularly for those in the Republican base, Jewett said.
“The U.S. has never been a show-me-your-papers type of country,” he said.