No shot, no shoes, no service
The culture warriors responsible for turning face masks into a symbol of state tyranny have found a new front for their fight: so-called vaccine passports. The digital credentials, designed to certify whether an individual has been immunized, do introduce plenty of challenges. Treating them as a tool of oppression rather than an opportunity for reopening, however, is exactly the wrong way to address the issue.
Vaccination is voluntary, and the principle of voluntariness goes both ways. The government is not going to make anyone get a vaccine; every civilian has a right to abstain. By the same token, every restaurant should have the right to know whether a customer is immune before opening its doors: no shot, no shoes, no service. The same goes for ballparks, bookstores, concert halls and more. Some may lose money by keeping out a slice of clientele, yet it is likely more will gain money by expanding capacity at long last. Is this tyrannical? Hardly. More tyrannical is barring private businesses from protecting their customers and employees as they see fit — as Florida Gov. Ron Desantis (R) has done by executive order.
The real trouble is figuring out how to create passports that are usable. The idea is to develop QR codes by verifying individuals’ immunization records against pharmacy or state health databases. People could then pull up those codes on their smartphones for scanning before entering a space. (For those without smartphones, a paper Centers for Disease Control and Prevention card may have to suffice.) Yet, unless the codes follow a single technological format, we may find ourselves swimming in a sea of conflicting, confusing systems, some accepted by some businesses and not by others. Right now, there are at least 17 efforts underway to develop such tools.
Then there’s the privacy conundrum. Ideally, the scanning process shouldn’t transmit any personal data, but rather only an encoded green light that tells a business you’re good to go. This result also shouldn’t get stored by businesses; vaccination records should remain only in the hands of the vaccinated individuals and the vaccination sites or affiliated authorities that already held them. Here, standards would also help — which is why it is good that the White House is working with industry to develop them.
Finally, there’s the question of equity. These passports could lock the vulnerable out of everyday life if vaccines aren’t sufficiently available to underserved communities. Focusing on innovative ways to put shots in the arms of those who can’t easily access them remains paramount. And essential stores such as groceries and pharmacies ought to ensure access even to the unvaccinated.
States, businesses and individuals are not likely to move toward our new normal in the same manners. Vaccine passports recognize that reality, and they can help create safer months ahead. We should spend our time not feuding over them, but making them work.