05/25/2021

As the U.S. Unmasks, the Pressure Is on for Vaccine Passports

A verification system might help identify who's vaccinated

A year ago, Americans were confronting the unnerving reality that the COVID pandemic wouldn’t be a shared experience: Disruption and risk would unroll differently depending on where they lived and how their local politicians responded. Nationwide, deaths had just crossed 100,000. Washington, D.C.  remained under a stay-at-home order. In New York state, Governor Andrew Cuomo was about to declare that masks would be mandatory inside businesses. But in Texas, Governor Greg Abbott re-opened professional sports, and in Georgia, Governor Brian Kemp did the same with bars and nightclubs.

If you thought 2021 would be different: Sorry.

Consider the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recent decision to lift mask mandates for vaccinated people—widely interpreted, if not originally intended, as permission for any adult to go maskless, vaccinated or not. Next, add in the Biden’s administration’s decision to remove the federal government from any significant role in certifying immune status. Realize that leaves us reliant on some proof of vaccination to know who is safe to be around. And then note that, while some state governments are creating verification apps that let people gather safely, others are refusing to allow so-called vaccine passports in their states, and some governors are threatening to bar businesses from using them.

Please select this link to read the complete article from WIRED.