As tens of millions are inoculated against Covid-19, officials from places as diverse as New York State, Israel, and China have introduced “vaccine passports” and talk of making them universal. The idea is simple: once you receive your shots, get a document or a phone application, which will allow you to access previously blocked places: restaurants, theaters, sports centers, offices, schools.
It seems like a way to ease coercive blocking restrictions, but it’s the opposite. To see why, think about food. Restaurants in most parts of the U.S. have already reopened, with limited capacity in some places. A vaccine passport would be prohibited entry of potential customers who have not received their photos. It would restrict the freedom even of those who have: If you are vaccinated but your spouse is not, forget to eat as a couple.
Planes and trains, which have continued to operate throughout the pandemic, would suddenly fall outside the confines of the unvaccinated. The only places where restrictions would be relatively moderate would be those that were still completely closed, such as many venues and schools for live events. But even there, the idea of the passport depends on maintaining the restrictions underlying the site, giving officials an incentive to do so for much longer as a lever to overcome vaccine resistance.
Therefore, the vaccination passport should not be understood as a reduction of restrictions, but as a coercive scheme to encourage vaccination. These measures may be legitimate: many schools require vaccination against common childhood diseases, and visitors from some African countries must be vaccinated against yellow fever. But Covid vaccine passports would harm public health and not benefit them.
The idea that everyone should be vaccinated has no scientific basis like the idea that no one should do it. Covid vaccines are essential for the elderly and at high risk and for their caregivers and are recommended for many others. But those who have become infected are already immune. Young people are at low risk and children (for whom no vaccine has been approved anyway) have a much lower risk of death than from flu. If the authorities force those who do not need it to be vaccinated, the public will begin to question vaccines in general.