Why the Controversy over Vaccine Passports?

I was recently asked my thoughts on why vaccine mandates or passports for attending events has become so controversial, when vaccines have been required to travel to certain destinations for years. I’ve been following this topic for a while, now, and offer some points to consider. For the record, I am fully supportive of the vaccination efforts for Covid-19 and am fully vaccinated.

When you compare required vaccines for travel vs. mandatory Covid vaccines to travel or attend events, a few distinctions come to mind:

1. The travel vaccines (malaria, yellow fever, polio, etc.) are well studied, are FDA approved and have been in use for years. The Covid-19 vaccines are all being used with Emergency Use Authorization, and are not yet FDA approved. Requiring someone to receive a treatment that can be considered experimental rubs some people the wrong way.
2. The required travel vaccinations are not in short supply. Anyone who needs or wants one can get one. This is not currently the case for Covid vaccines, where we still have a global shortage.
3. People traveling to destinations requiring vaccines are going for leisure, or as part of their chosen profession, so they are making the choice to travel. If they want to go, they need the vaccines.
4. Finally, the conversation around Covid vaccines spans beyond foreign travel, and into daily life activities here at home – sporting events, concerts, conferences. We’ve never had to produce a health certificate to attend, so I think it hits a nerve.

From a practical perspective, where do we draw the line? There are a lot of public gatherings that aren’t talking about vaccine requirements. Shopping malls, restaurants, movie theaters to name a few. Over the course of a single day of business, any of these establishments could have just as many people coming through as at a small to medium event. I don’t think these are inherently less risky than an event. Until/unless a clear narrative can articulate the difference, people will be pointing and saying “what about…?”

From a privacy perspective, the idea of a digital vaccination passport puts some people on edge. Who will have access to this data, and how will it be protected? Will people’s movements be tracked as their passports are scanned? What about people who cannot receive the vaccine for legitimate health reasons? Should they be prohibited from participating? Do they have to provide proof of why they can’t get the vaccine? More work needs to be done in this area to make sure information is secure.

Event organizers are tasked with creating as safe an environment as possible for their attendees, while at the same time creating an inclusive experience. It’s not an easy place to be. For all of the reasons I outlined above, I think having a vaccine mandate could be problematic. I think a decent compromise is voluntary proof of vaccine and/or proof of negative Covid test within X days of arrival.

Covid tests are now generally available, and as far as I know, pose no danger to anyone’s health. There are a lot of examples of destinations requiring testing, and there doesn’t seem to be the push-back like we’ve seen with mandatory vaccines. If the goal is to prevent the spread of disease, I think testing goes a long way toward that.

I do believe that once we achieve herd immunity, these conversations will fade. We don’t talk about requiring vaccines for measles, polio, rubella, and such, in order to attend events because we’ve achieved herd immunity against them. Hopefully, that day will come soon with Covid!

I’m curious to hear others’ thoughts on this topic. Feel free to send me a message and start up a conversation.

To your good health,

Therese

Update May 3, 2021

My thoughts were featured in this MPI Meetings Outlook article:

https://www.mpi.org/blog/article/meetings-outlook-vaccine-passports