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Covid‑19 Vaccination Certificates: Prospects and Problems

Posted by nte on March 10, 2021 in In Print

Kofler N, & Baylis F. (10 Mar 2021). . The Hastings Center Bioetics Forum Essay.

In the early days of the pandemic, Covid-19 immunity passports were proposed as a useful tool to allow some individuals to return to work, shopping, cultural events, and travel. These passports were to be issued to those presumed immune to Covid-19 because they had either recovered from the disease or could prove they had previously been infected by testing for circulating antibodies.

Immunity passports were to help reopen economies and allow individuals to resume normal activities under the presumption that those with a passport were no longer a threat to others and could therefore be exempt from Covid-19 public health measures.

From the beginning we argued that . We noted a lack of robust scientific evidence about how Covid-19 immunity worked, and drew attention to serious ethical concerns about privacy, the , and the risk of .

Now, with limited distribution of vaccines with varying degrees of efficacy there is renewed interest in immunity passports; more accurately described as vaccination certificates.  . With more than , it has started to reopen its economy, relying on its self-styled . Those who have been fully inoculated with a vaccine or who can prove they have recovered from an infection with SARS-CoV2 are free to return to movie theatres, gyms, and their vacations in . Those without government-validated certification cannot. Other countries, including the ,,, and the , and the  are now considering some kind of similar program.

With Covid-19 vaccines now in the arms of some but not others,. Indeed, there is a growing chorus of people suggesting that vaccination certificates are inevitable.

This suggestion is accurate...