Are Vaccine passports a nightmare in the middle of paradise?.

 

When the vaccination campaign in the United States gained traction, it promised a return to normalcy and a reopening of society. People would be able to gather again in a safe environment, attend concerts, sporting activities, restaurants, travel, and even return to work. What's the price of the ticket? A vaccine passport, proof of inoculation, or the existence of antibodies are all acceptable forms of proof.

However, with this promise comes a slew of questions, particularly in a country where there is no centralized identification system, where a slew of public, private, and non-profit institutions are involved in the vaccine effort, and where many people lack identification, and even if they did, were not asked for it when they went to get vaccinated in many cases. Furthermore, only roughly half of the US states, according to a recent industry discussion I attended on the topic, have health systems that would allow for identification verification and the keeping of verifiable digital health data.

So, where does it leave us in terms of security and privacy? “Fake COVID Vaccination Cards Are Spreading Like a Virus Online,” according to a recent headline in the New York Post, with the problem reaching epidemic proportions as airlines and event venues announce that vaccination cards will be required for entry, despite the fact that only 28% of the population is fully vaccinated as of this writing.

On the one hand, we are in the midst of a public health emergency, and the need to get people vaccinated may take precedence above all else. On the other hand, we had about a year to consider how we would manage ourselves once the vaccines were accessible, and the lack of planning has left us in a privacy and security quagmire.

To begin with, how do we know that the people carrying these vaccination cards are who they say they are? Second, how can we be sure that the persons who are presenting them are the ones who have been vaccinated? Brett Johnson points out in a scathing LinkedIn post that anyone can get bogus documents on the dark web for $50.

The topic of vaccination passports, in my opinion, exposes the dark side of the American privacy and identification debate at the expense of public health and safety. It's no longer a question of whether or not people are receiving benefits to which they are not entitled, or whether or not a voter's ID is required. The lack of a national identity strategy and the problem of vaccination passports.

To be dramatic, I recall my daughter's school being the epicenter of the pandemic outbreak in New York City. The first confirmed case in the region was a father at a school, and the city was put on lockdown within days. Nobody wants to go back to that situation. We must consider public safety if we wish to open society safely. Prematurely opening without fully comprehending the danger