Covid-19 vaccine passports raise ethical concerns, logistical hurdles

In Israel, a vaccine passport was launched last week enabling those vaccinated to go to hotels and gyms. Saudi Arabia is now issuing an app-based health passport for those vaccinated, while the government of Iceland is handing out vaccine passports to facilitate foreign travel. Last month, President Biden issued executive orders asking government agencies to assess the feasibility of creating digital Covid-19 vaccination certificates.

Proponents of her case have been working to make the actual transcript of this statement available online. or do not run the risk themselves. It can also be an incentive for people to get the chance.

But the concept may be full of pitfalls. It can discriminate against minority communities who, according to national surveys, are less likely to accept the vaccines, or young people who are less likely to receive them. There are questions about the ethics of giving businesses access to people’s health records.

“The thing that underlies it all is, what are you going to use it for?” says Melinda Mills, director of the Leverhulme Center for Demographic Science at Oxford University. ‘Is it for international travel? Is it to get a job? Is it to buy milk? ”

Some health authorities are concerned that the vaccines’ passports could give people a false sense of security. For example, it is not clear whether vaccines prevent people from becoming infected and spreading the disease and whether vaccinations by mutations of the virus will be less effective. Scientists are rushing for answers to these questions.

In the European Union, leaders at a virtual summit on Thursday agreed to come up with an electronic vaccination certificate that could work across the block within three months. However, there is division over what a certificate can be used for. Some, like Austria and Greece, want it to be a form of passport that allows those vaccinated to travel.

Others, including France, Belgium and the Netherlands, are more skeptical. French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday night that he did not want young people who are not getting vaccinated for the time being discriminated against.

The World Health Organization has set up a working group to look at how best to set up a digital vaccination certificate.

Israel and the United Kingdom, two major countries with advanced vaccination programs, are at the forefront of the debate. The UK aims to vaccinate all adults by the end of July. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced that the investigation into immunity certificates must be completed by mid-June.

Israel on Saturday night began issuing so-called “green passports” with which vaccinated people can enter gyms, concerts and hotels. Later, the tickets will be used at restaurants and bars when it reopens in the coming weeks.

Officials described the green passports as important tools in their efforts to encourage as many of the population as possible to be vaccinated. So far, 50% of the population in Israel has received at least one shot of vaccine.

The green passports are found on the website of the Ministry of Health or in a mobile app, with a barcode and a person’s identification number.

The project is not without controversy. The vaccination in Israel is not mandatory, but parliament on Wednesday approved a law that enables the province’s health ministry to identify people who have not been vaccinated to local authorities. Other measures may require regular testing for those who are not vaccinated.

Health Minister Yuli Edelstein said he was considering proposing legislation that would allow employers not to make vaccinated workers work, although these decisions are not final.

The Israeli Public Health Union has warned that sharing in people’s vaccination status raises privacy issues. Other experts have questioned whether people’s personal information can later be used to target them with political ads.

In the UK, where more than a third of the population has received at least one shot of the vaccine, the government is legally prevented from forcing Britons to vaccinate. Initially, the ministers said they were against vaccine passports. But over the past few weeks, the government has changed.

Mr. Johnson said people are likely to need proof of vaccination to travel abroad, just as some countries require a certificate of yellow fever vaccination. But whether the government should issue certificates to gain access to recreational activities is not clear, he said.

“We have not had such things before. “We never thought of having something to show you to go to a bar or a theater,” he said this week. “There are deep and complex issues that we need to investigate.”

To circumvent these fears, it will examine those who make vaccinations in second-class citizens whether the government can also issue a certificate if a person tests negative for Covid-19.

Officials are investigating whether a vaccine or test certificate can be displayed in an app developed by the country’s national health service. It can take a long time to implement, said Elliot Jones, a researcher at the Ada Lovelace Institute, a British research foundation. The UK government took six months to build a Covid-19 track-and-trace app.

Meanwhile, the private sector can take matters into its own hands. British holiday operator Saga PLC has said customers need to provide proof that they have received two vaccine shots before boarding its cruise ships. International business machines Corp.

has developed a digital health certificate that allows people to share health records with employers or other businesses.

In Israel, some business leaders say employees need to be vaccinated. Shai Wininger, co-founder of New York-based insurance company Lemonade Inc.,

wrote on Facebook that he would only meet face-to-face with vaccinated.

Large shopping malls Ltd.

, which operates shopping malls across Israel, said this month that it would not give vaccinated employees, suppliers and guests access to its management offices from March.

After a majority of the population of a country has been vaccinated, the question is whether the social and economic cost of vaccine passports is worth the possible small reduction in the transmission it can give, said Mr. Jones said.

If vaccinations keep the infection rates under control, he asked, “Is it really worth it for all these problems?”

—Laurence Norman in Brussels contributed to this article.

Write to Max Colchester at [email protected] and Felicia Schwartz at [email protected]