Los Angeles launches digital receipt of iPhone for COVID-19 vaccines, raising fears that these tools could become “vaccine passports” that would be needed for activities such as airline travel and live concerts .
The plan to be rolled out this week will get Los Angeles County to partner with tech company Healthvana to issue digital checks, which can be put on an Apple Wallet or Android equivalent, according to Bloomberg.
The project is initially aimed at ensuring that people who receive the first approved Pfizer or Moderna vaccine also get the necessary booster vaccine, even through follow-up notifications.
But the digital receipt could also be used “to show airlines, to show schools, to show who needs it,” that a person has been vaccinated, Ramin Bastani, CEO of Healthvana, told Bloomberg.
But critics fear it will mark the emergence of a vaccine surveillance state, where digital “passports” are required for everything from flying on a plane to going to the movies.
Los Angeles Fire Department captain Elliot Ibanez, on the left, receives the Modern COVID-19 vaccine given by LAFD paramedic Anthony Kong on Monday. Los Angeles County will soon begin issuing digital vaccination tests, increasing the possibility of a new “vaccine passport” system
The plan to be rolled out this week will have Los Angeles County partner with technology company Healthvana to issue digital checks, which can be placed on an Apple Wallet (photo photo)
Los Angeles vaccine receipts arrive as the county has become the latest U.S. epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic, which surpassed Covid’s 7,000 hospitalizations for the first time Monday.
Health officials hope digital records can help streamline the complex two-step vaccination process, ensuring that doses are not missed for people who don’t get the required booster shot.
But privacy groups have warned of the possible future effects of a “data capture” of medical information by private companies.
“This great moment of hope should not be viewed opportunistically as another data capture,” privacy advocacy group Privacy International said in a statement.
“The deployment of vaccines and, in particular, any ‘immunity passport’ or vaccination-related certificate, must respect human rights,” the group added.
A “vaccine passport” system would also raise questions about what to do with people who have natural antibodies to the virus after recovering from an infection.
Vaccines currently being administered in the United States are also not currently approved for children under 16, due to a lack of clinical data for this age group, which raises questions about how children under a single age group would be treated. passport regime.
Critics fear it will mark the emergence of a dystopian vaccine surveillance state, where digital “vaccine passports” are required for everything from flying a plane to going to the movies
And because vaccination has proceeded much more slowly than the federal government had anticipated, with just over two million shots administered to date, a passport system raises concerns about a two-tier society that closes those who do not. have been able to access the vaccine.
Australian airline Qantas has already announced that it will start requiring coronavirus shots for all passengers on its international flights.
Companies such as concert halls and live sports, which are desperate to reclaim crowds as soon as possible, have also suggested that vaccine passports could start the economy, an uninterrupted measure until the pandemic is crushed once and for all. for all.
Last month, Ticketmaster announced that it would implement an option within its digital ticketing application that would allow event organizers to require vaccination testing or a recent negative COVID test.
The company backed down quickly after dealing with the reaction, issuing a statement clarifying that “there is absolutely no Ticketmaster requirement that requires testing vaccines / testing for future events.”
An emergency worker was vaccinated against coronavirus last week in Los Angeles. The city is among the first to start issuing digital vaccination tests
Some companies are working on digital vaccination verification systems, including IBM and Clear, a security company that uses biometric technology to confirm the identity of people at airports.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is promoting a vaccine passport called the IATA Travel Pass, which is still under development.
The system would inform passengers of the tests, vaccinations and other measures they need before traveling and would provide a digital verification of the tests and vaccinations to the airlines or other authorities.
Heath’s data faces strict regulations under federal law, which all companies looking for vaccine passports say they comply with.
The mosaic of different proposals has also raised fears that vaccine verification systems adopted in one state or country are not compatible with those elsewhere.
The Commons Project, together with the World Economic Forum and several public and private partners, hopes to solve this problem with CommonPass, “a global, trusted interoperability platform.”
‘You can try yourself every time you cross a border. You can’t get vaccinated every time you cross a border, ”Thomas Crampton, head of marketing and communications for The Commons Project, told CNN Business.
Still, Ramin Bastani, CEO of Healthvana, expressed doubt that any vaccine verification service would become ubiquitous across the country.
“It won’t be like a credit card you can use in the United States,” he told Bloomberg. “Sometimes you can pay in cash, sometimes you can use your Apple Wallet.”