Vaccination requirements are spreading in the United States, which sows concern over the extension

Sign up here for our daily coronavirus newsletter on what you need to know and subscribe to our Covid-19 podcast for the latest news and analysis.

Covid-19 vaccination requirements are fast becoming a fact of life in the United States, spreading business by business even as politicians and privacy advocates confront them.

Brown, Notre Dame and Rutgers are among the universities warning students and staff that they will need shots to return to campus this fall. Some sports teams demand vaccination tests or negative tests from fans when the arenas are reopened. Want to see your favorite band playing in the interior of California? The same rules apply to larger premises. Recently, a Houston hospital chain ordered its 26,000 employees to be vaccinated.

Still, it’s another question how people show they’ve been shot or that they don’t have Covid. Republican politicians and privacy advocates are erecting so-called vaccination passports, and some states are deciding to restrict their use.

Given the tense policy, many companies “do not necessarily want to be the first in their industry to take the plunge,” said Carmel Shachar, executive director of the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law, Biotechnology and Bioethics Law School. of Harvard. Still, “we’ll see employers start requiring vaccines if you want to get into the office, if you have a public job.”

While there may be an increase in companies asking if they can require vaccines, few are willing to make that commitment. The Biden administration leaves the matter to the private sector, and this week White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the U.S. government will not do so. issue vaccine passports. They are usually conceived as smartphone apps that show the holder has been immunized against Covid, eliminating the need to carry the paper card that comes with the completed vaccines.

“It would be a simple check for employers,” said Susan Kline, a labor lawyer in Indianapolis. “But when you start trying to say everyone has to show their passport, there start to be a lot of obstacles.”

Read more: A vaccine passport is the new golden ticket when the world reopens

The stipulations follow the same haphazard pattern that has characterized much of the response to the American pandemic, varying company by company, state by state, and subject to the vagaries of local politics. But it is clear that vaccination rules will become an ongoing concern for anyone working in a U.S. business or sponsoring.

Partisan problem

Public health measures became a partisan issue as soon as former President Donald Trump began minimizing the pandemic and a fierce debate arose over its severity, the use of masks, and government-enforced closures. Vaccination requirements and passports have become the latest flash points.

“Idahoans should be given the option to receive the vaccine. We should not violate the personal freedoms of Idahoans by demanding that they receive it,” Idaho Republican Gov. Brad Little said Wednesday after signing a executive order banning the vaccination requirement for people seeking public services. The governors of Florida and Texas have issued similar orders.

“Vaccine passports create different classes of citizens,” Little said.

However, New York State has introduced its “Excelsior Pass” smartphone app to quickly demonstrate vaccination or a clean test. The widely used Clear airport entrance system will soon offer its own version.

So far, many companies have decided on a lighter touch. By reopening offices, they have strongly encouraged employees to get vaccinated, but have stopped requiring it. This includes Amazon, which offers frontline employees up to $ 80 to be vaccinated, and Walmart, which offers photographs in its stores and offers associates two hours of free time to get theirs.

A recent survey by consulting firm Mercer Total Health Management found that 73% of employers do not think vaccination is a requirement.

“People don’t want to go into something like that sent as an antagonistic relationship in their workforce, “said Mary Kay O’Neill, Mercer’s senior clinical advisor.

Houston’s Methodist health care system is taking another point. His CEO, in a March email, gave executives until mid-April the first dose or exemption. He did not specify a deadline for other employees. “Thank you for getting vaccinated and thank you for directing your staff to make the right decision to help protect our patients,” CEO Marc Boom wrote.

The rules proliferate, even in the free time of workers. The Boston Marathon may require runners to produce two negative Covid tests for their October test. “Official participants will receive more information in the coming months about test deadlines and requirements,” the Boston Athletic Association warned.

Privacy issues

Civil liberties advocates are concerned about the privacy implications of any passport system.

Alexander Howard, a Washington-based information privacy expert and director of the Digital Democracy Project, said these phone apps could lead to landing personal information in government or private databases through stadium entrances, gateways. boarding at the airport or anywhere where the devices are passed.

“We have in our pocket a supercomputer that provides us with divine powers, but that can also be used against us,” he said.

However, some of those who have received their shots have an advantage in proving it quickly. Julio Elizalde, a 36-year-old concert pianist from the San Francisco Bay Area, said a vaccine passport would make his life easier and cost him a lot from June, when he has a performance in Taipei. He has to get to quarantine three weeks early, he said, and tries to book a hotel or private home that can equip him with a grand piano baby so he can practice.

“I’m actually completely vaccinated,” Elizalde said. “I wish I could prove I had my two shots.”

Some legal experts have warned that because vaccines only have federal emergency approval, companies cannot require them. But that problem is “a little red herring,” Shavard’s Harchar said, because the vaccine data is so strong, the shots are so effective, and the virus is so dangerous.

Many universities already require vaccinating students for other diseases. According to Emily Morgese, vice president of the New York Independent Colleges and Universities Commission, a group for administrators, they say they stand firm to demand coronavirus vaccines. However, its implementation can be complicated, especially for schools with large international populations.