Gov debuts vax passports
Phone-based tool doesn’t come with mandate
A state-sponsored coronavirus passport is making its debut in Massachusetts but Baker administration officials stressed there is no vaccine mandate coming.
The new tool, called My Vax Records, gives residents the option of accessing a digital version of their COVID-19 vaccine record directly from their phones via the state website.
Anyone who received their vaccination in Massachusetts can access their own vaccine history and generate a COVID-19 digital vaccine card, which would contain similar information to a paper Centers for Disease Control and Prevention vaccination record card.
During a briefing with reporters Monday, administration officials stressed the digital vaccine passport, which they refer to as a digital vaccine card tool, does not come with a statewide vaccine mandate.
“The Administration is not requiring residents to show proof of vaccination to enter any venue, but this tool will help residents who would like to access and produce a digital copy of their record,” they said.
The COVID-19 digital vaccine cards produced by the website rely on the SMART Health Card platform and generate a QR code that can be used to verify vaccination. Information about vaccination records come from the official Massachusetts Immunization Information System.
Gov. Charlie Baker called the system “a far more customer-friendly and effective way to make this tool available to people if they want to use it.”
Baker in late-November hinted at the coming digital vaccine app, after initially nixing the idea of a statesponsored verification system last April as vaccines were being distributed for the first time.
At the time, he said, “I think having a conversation about creating a barrier before people have even had an opportunity to be eligible to be vaccinated — let’s focus on getting people vaccinated.”
The Republican governor has been hesitant to re-institute policies like mask mandates that were handed down in the earlier days of the pandemic, instead using his platform to plug the importance of vaccines, which he maintains are the best defense against coronavirus infections.
But he’s adjusted as the current omicron surge has progressed, sending numbers of daily new cases to record-breaking levels. In mid-December, Baker issued an advisory recommending — but not requiring — Bay Staters mask up indoors.
The state vaccine verification website comes after a group of Democratic city mayors — including Somerville, Arlington, Brookline, Cambridge and Salem — last month banded together to require vaccines for city employees as well as anyone entering most public indoors spaces like restaurants, gyms and entertainment venues.
The city policy announcements included a city-sanctioned vaccine passport app.