Q&A: Will COVID-19 vaccine passports become part of the new normal?

Media reports have recently raised the issue of vaccine passports, which would allow people to prove their immunization status against COVID-19.

However, the Biden administration said it was not supportive of a nationwide system that requires Americans to carry vaccination credentials, according to reporting by The Hill.

Anthony Harris, MD, MBA, MPH, is chief innovation officer and associate medical director at WorkCare, one of several companies developing vaccine passports. We asked him under what circumstances the passports could be used and whether they are feasible and secure.

Healio Primary Care: Can you describe some of the initiatives currently underway to create vaccine passports?

Harris: We have joined as general members the Vaccination Credential Initiative whose primary aim is to provide individuals with access to a trustworthy and verifiable copy of their vaccination records in digital or paper form. This effort was started by Microsoft, Oracle, Epic, Cerner and others.

The second project is an app called Transformative Recovery Actions for Community, or TRAFC. Through this ongoing collaboration between WorkCare, Chicago physicians and the city’s business community, we seek to provide a person’s vaccination verification securely while simultaneously protecting the person’s privacy, thereby increasing capacity of the city’s restaurants, retail establishments, etc., and helping bring these establishments’ capacity back to normal levels.

Healio Primary Care: How will vaccine passports be enforced?

Harris: That's the million-dollar question. We have seen a black market for COVID-19 PCR tests and so we anticipate a black market for vaccination verifications. That’s why any data entered into Traffic is treated very much as other clinical documentation and will be reviewed by one of our clinicians.

Healio Primary Care: What are the privacy concerns associated with this kind of documentation?

Harris: The privacy concerns are very similar to those that stemmed from the early days of HIPAA, in that the passport would be medical documentation of an immunization and should be protected. That’s why we put our name into the hat of treating the vaccination verification process just like we treat any other clinical documentation that we review day in and day out.

Healio Primary Care: Who will be required to carry a vaccine passport?

Harris: At this point, it appears vaccine passports will be voluntary. It will be incumbent on an employer to decide if they are required. To date, we are not hearing that the government will mandate them, since the legal debate behind such a requirement is still ongoing.

Healio Primary Care: Do you think the U.S. government will ever implement a coordinated, nationwide vaccine passport system? Why or why not?

Harris: I do not think so. That would only probably occur if vaccine passports became a global initiative, and right now, there is no way to set forth requirements that every nation that wants to participate in a vaccine passport initiative can achieve.

Healio Primary Care: What other countries have begun implementing vaccine passports? What has been the public’s response to them?

Harris: I am not aware of any country that has rolled out a COVID-19 vaccination passport board at this point in time.

Singapore experimented with a passport process related to COVID-19, but not for vaccination. It stated people could not go to that country’s Disney theme park if they did not have a passport to show that they were compliant with testing up until they sought entry into the park. Though there seemed to be good acceptance there, there are things that occur in the Far East that wouldn't pass muster in the U.S., such as measuring of one’s BMI to mitigate risk of injury on the job.

Reference:

Samuels B. White House rules out involvement in ‘vaccine passports.’ The Hill. Published April 6, 2021. https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/546705-white-house-rules-out-involvement-in-vaccine-passports. Accessed April 16, 2021.