Economy, Public Health/Coronavirus, Transportation

Vaccine passports Go live

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Summary

  • Vaccine passports are here and rolling out. They will initially be used for travel and may be required. It is widely expected that event, festival and concert organizers will mandate either a vaccine passport or a negative Covid-19 test.
  • Numerous countries have announced vaccine passport or similar.
  • The U.S. government has begun researching vaccine passport concepts.
  • The are ethical/moral issues with vaccine passports but the reality is there is tremendous pressure from the vaccine privileged to get on with life, and for businesses to get economic activity underway. This is not stoppable. In fact, it is growing rapidly.
  • FYI – As of December 2020, the typical price charged for a routine, Covid-19 screening test (asymptomatic) runs about $100 to $200 for each test in the U.S. So-called “rapidtests” have an underlying cost of about $5, so there is significant health industrial complex mark up going on. For some people, many of these test costs will be paid for by someone else (insurance, Medicare) depending on provider and purpose.

Update Summer 2021

I’m so old, I remember just a few months back when “they” insisted there were never be vaccine mandates and vaccine passports in the United States.

Today, the Biden Administration acknowledges discussing vaccine passports for interstate travel but is holding off on that “for now”. Wait a few months – this will soon be mandatory too. Canada announced mandatory vaccine passports for domestic air travel, domestic rail travel, and boarding ships in Canadian ports.

How many months until this is implemented in the U.S.?

How might it be implemented? For air travel, this is easily checked by TSA or at the boarding gate. For car travel, perhaps “they” will require a mandatory smart phone app. If you turn on your phone in another state, and you are not vaccinated, the authorities will be notified?

After the pandemic subsides, this tech will become permanent in the U.S. as the government will choose to track our activities for other purposes. Many states, and now the new Infrastructure bill, include provisions to track and tax vehicle travel by the mile.

Details

“U.K. and U.S. participants, who don’t have access to the health pass, have had to show a negative PCR test and get tested every 48 hours during the fest,

Source: France Sets Stricter Health Rules for COVID Variant – Variety“

“Shops were open to all, but access to gyms, hotels and theatres was limited to people with a “Green Pass”: those who have had both doses of the vaccine more than a week prior, or recovered from the disease with presumed immunity.

Pass-holders could prove their status by presenting a vaccination certificate or downloading a health ministry app linked to their medical files.”

Private firms can set their own rules and many have announced they will require proof of immunity. Qantas Airline expects to require proof of immunity by mid-2021. UK cruise line “Saga” has mandated vaccinations for all future booking travelers.

In addition to being vaccine privileged, such individuals will also have travel privilege and event access privilege.

There are significant moral and ethical concerns about creating a two-class citizenry – those with vaccine privilege and those without. But this is not stoppable: once the elite are vaccinated, they will demand to get on with their lives, and second, the economic issues will drive this forward. Vaccine passports will not be stopped.

An even more elite group has multiple passport privilege that they can use to travel around the world and bypass many travel restrictions.

Recently, a young person I know moved from the U.S. to an EU country. I was perplexed as to how she could do this in the midst of travel bans between the U.S. and her destination country. Turns out she was born in Germany but grew up in the U.S. As a consequence, she has dual nationality and can travel “home” to the EU on the German passport, and back to the U.S. on her U.S. passport, if she wants to.

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