We've talked about vaccine passports before. There are quite a few event organizers, and people who attend the events, who'd like to be assured that everyone in the room has been vaccinated. Already, large numbers of colleges and universities will require all students to show proof of vaccination or recent negative test in order to enroll in the fall. Major League Baseball will leave it up to teams. Some sportsball teams - for instance, baseball's SF Giants and NY Yankees, and football's Buffalo Bills - will require proof of vaccination or negative test for entrance; many more will set aside sections - often, the best seats - for vaccinated fans.
Remember the IATA? This international air travel oversight organization was developing a travel pass, an app which would provide your testing and vaccination status. It was up to individual airlines to decide how to use this data, but at least the plan was to be consistent across all air travel. It was supposed to launch in mid-April, but I cannot find anything confirming that this was the case; in fact, I can't find anything in the news about the IATA travel pass dated after early April. What happened?
More to come on that, we hope. In other news, the European Union - which pretty much shut down non-essential travel over a year ago - has announced that it will welcome American travelers who are vaccinated or have had a recent negative test, starting this summer. Travelers will probably be required to show a travel certificate - in the EU, called a Digital Green Certificate - to prove their COVID status. The last time we checked in on the EU, they couldn't agree on a protocol, so this is good news. Maybe Abbey and I will get to Paris after all!
Today I installed the New York State Excelsior Pass on my cell phone, as Abbey and I are now officially fully vaccinated, but I'm not sure what good it will do me. I suppose it would get me in to a Yankees game. But if anyone wants to know if I've been vaccinated, I've got proof that can't be counterfeited.
Finally, I think we would do well to just ignore the anti-passport crazies who can't seem to understand that a COVID vaccine passport is exactly the same thing, designed for exactly the same reason, as the vaccination proof they have to show in order to enroll their children in public school. The hysteria around this topic is the ultimate in ignorant knee-jerk political tribalism. These are not people who want to engage in a dialogue, and we should probably just let them be.
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