Mar 12, 2021 08:39 PM
Are vaccine passports a good idea?
https://www.economist.com/science-and-te...-good-idea
EXCERPT: The experiment is being watched around the world. Worried about stalled economies and restive citizens, governments have leapt on the idea of “vaccine passports” as a way to free at least some people from lockdowns. In January Joe Biden, America’s president, ordered his government to assess the idea. On March 8th the country’s guidelines about social mingling were updated to distinguish between the vaccinated and unvaccinated for the first time. The European Commission will put forward plans for a bloc-wide “digital green pass” on March 17th. Britain is considering a vaccine-passport scheme too. In some versions of the idea, the passports would include not just vaccination status, but results from infection tests, proof that the bearer had completed a period of quarantine, or exemptions from vaccination for health reasons.
Vaccine-related restrictions are not a new idea. Visitors to places where yellow fever is endemic have to prove vaccination with a “yellow card”. Immigrants to America must be vaccinated for 15 diseases listed by that country’s Department of Health before they can become permanent residents. So must children in all 50 states before attending public schools (though there are exemptions for the immuno-compromised and religious objections). In many places, similar rules apply to some health-care workers and to soldiers.
But when it comes to covid-19, not everyone is so keen. Policy experts argue that, in many countries, vaccination is moving quickly enough that passports will be only briefly useful... (MORE - details)
People are keeping their vaccines secret
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...cy/618253/
EXCERPT: . . . Yet for every immunization that sparks public joy, there’s perhaps another that blips silently by, shaded with guilt, frustration, or fear. Many of the recipients of these early jabs have chosen to hide them from even close friends and family—some of the people who stand to benefit the most from the protection that immunization affords.
I spoke with more than a dozen of these covert vaccinees last week; all asked to remain anonymous. (The Atlantic agreed to these requests because they involved personal health information.) The reasons behind the vaccinees’ reticence ran the gamut: Some worried that they would be accused of line hopping; others were wary of exposing the criteria that had qualified them. A weatherman in Florida wanted to avoid being prematurely called back to the office, because he’d miss out on quality time with his family. But they were united by what we might call shot self-consciousness—the worry about how their shots will be perceived by others.
Everyone I spoke with said they were grateful to get their shots when they did. They were glad to have the protection, and happy to help quash a pandemic that just hit its one-year anniversary. This week, the CDC officially granted a new suite of enviable privileges to vaccinees, allowing them to mix with one another indoors, without masks; previous guidelines had cleared them to skip postexposure quarantines.
This problem may be fleeting. In the United States, at least, the pace of vaccination has picked up, and some countries, including China, are pushing for mandatory disclosure of immunization status from travelers. But as long as vaccine demand continues to outstrip supply, the inoculated might hesitate to reveal their status and risk their eligibility being debated among those still waiting in the queue. The vaccination rollout has forced people to consider where they fall in each state’s prioritization scheme—a strange sort of government-sanctioned meritocracy—and to square that identity with their public image. The fear that those two metrics don’t match up is enough to drive many people into hiding, and many are unsure of when, or how, they’ll decide to emerge.... (MORE)
https://www.economist.com/science-and-te...-good-idea
EXCERPT: The experiment is being watched around the world. Worried about stalled economies and restive citizens, governments have leapt on the idea of “vaccine passports” as a way to free at least some people from lockdowns. In January Joe Biden, America’s president, ordered his government to assess the idea. On March 8th the country’s guidelines about social mingling were updated to distinguish between the vaccinated and unvaccinated for the first time. The European Commission will put forward plans for a bloc-wide “digital green pass” on March 17th. Britain is considering a vaccine-passport scheme too. In some versions of the idea, the passports would include not just vaccination status, but results from infection tests, proof that the bearer had completed a period of quarantine, or exemptions from vaccination for health reasons.
Vaccine-related restrictions are not a new idea. Visitors to places where yellow fever is endemic have to prove vaccination with a “yellow card”. Immigrants to America must be vaccinated for 15 diseases listed by that country’s Department of Health before they can become permanent residents. So must children in all 50 states before attending public schools (though there are exemptions for the immuno-compromised and religious objections). In many places, similar rules apply to some health-care workers and to soldiers.
But when it comes to covid-19, not everyone is so keen. Policy experts argue that, in many countries, vaccination is moving quickly enough that passports will be only briefly useful... (MORE - details)
People are keeping their vaccines secret
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...cy/618253/
EXCERPT: . . . Yet for every immunization that sparks public joy, there’s perhaps another that blips silently by, shaded with guilt, frustration, or fear. Many of the recipients of these early jabs have chosen to hide them from even close friends and family—some of the people who stand to benefit the most from the protection that immunization affords.
I spoke with more than a dozen of these covert vaccinees last week; all asked to remain anonymous. (The Atlantic agreed to these requests because they involved personal health information.) The reasons behind the vaccinees’ reticence ran the gamut: Some worried that they would be accused of line hopping; others were wary of exposing the criteria that had qualified them. A weatherman in Florida wanted to avoid being prematurely called back to the office, because he’d miss out on quality time with his family. But they were united by what we might call shot self-consciousness—the worry about how their shots will be perceived by others.
Everyone I spoke with said they were grateful to get their shots when they did. They were glad to have the protection, and happy to help quash a pandemic that just hit its one-year anniversary. This week, the CDC officially granted a new suite of enviable privileges to vaccinees, allowing them to mix with one another indoors, without masks; previous guidelines had cleared them to skip postexposure quarantines.
This problem may be fleeting. In the United States, at least, the pace of vaccination has picked up, and some countries, including China, are pushing for mandatory disclosure of immunization status from travelers. But as long as vaccine demand continues to outstrip supply, the inoculated might hesitate to reveal their status and risk their eligibility being debated among those still waiting in the queue. The vaccination rollout has forced people to consider where they fall in each state’s prioritization scheme—a strange sort of government-sanctioned meritocracy—and to square that identity with their public image. The fear that those two metrics don’t match up is enough to drive many people into hiding, and many are unsure of when, or how, they’ll decide to emerge.... (MORE)
