Musings on Vaccination Passports
Apr. 10th, 2021 09:58 pmI've been thinking about vaccination passports throughout the pandemic and I still don't know what I think.
Pro
Economy
If we re-open businesses for vaccinated people only, then we can re-open them earlier than we could otherwise, which seems like a safe way to improve the economy.
(Sadly, we're just re-opening things anyway, before it's safe.)
Con
New Privilege
Vaccine passports would exacerbate a new category of haves and have-nots. People with vaccines would not only be safer from the virus but would then also get rights and privileges that other people don't have. So it would be doubly unfair.
Unfairness
In addition, existing privilege is correlated with this new privilege. For example, it helps to have good internet access, the ability to get vaccinated during business hours, and perhaps the ability to a few hours away to get there.some people's health conditions mean they cannot get the vaccine.
And some people can't safely get vaccines due to other health conditions.
And I've heard that some Black people are afraid to get the vaccine because of a history of evil treatment such as the Tuskegee experiment. Part of me wants to tell them, no, it's okay, everyone's getting it. But another part of me would not be at all surprised to hear a news story about, say, a batch of vaccine that accidentally got thawed too long, and instead of throwing it out, the company decided to divert it to a low-income or minority neighborhood.
And I've heard that instead of a cute booklet, which you might stamp with cute stamps for all your different vaccines, it's going to be some kind of electronic thing, which would require a smart phone, which not everyone has.
Black Market
Poor people would be incentivized to sell their passports to rich people who don't deserve them. This would mean those places aren't safe.
Except it's modern times so some people will be good at creating fake passports without even giving poor people any money (or, admittedly, taking their passports).
Inefficiency/Bureaucratic Red Tape
We're already getting vaccine cards. (Admittedly, they don't always fill in your name--you could put anyone's name in there.) You could use those, perhaps in conjunction with a photo ID, to achieve the same purpose.
Weird Politics
In the olden days, I would have thought that Republicans would be pro-passport or at least pro-differential treatment based on vaccination status (to improve the economy and to reward people taking responsibility for getting themselves vaccinated). And I would have thought that Democrats would be anti-passport (because of the unfairness issues).
But no. Because Trumpists are anti-reality, they have been making up stories about the evils of the vaccine and pretending the virus is no big deal to anyone who's not practically dead anyway, and they've decided that it's very important that they have the right to not get vaccinated. But of course, they don't want to self-isolate either. So they're actually anti-passport.
And now it's the Democrats who are willing to overlook the temporary inequalities (since there we have the policy of providing vaccines to everyone for free, and soon there will even be enough for everyone).
Pro
Economy
If we re-open businesses for vaccinated people only, then we can re-open them earlier than we could otherwise, which seems like a safe way to improve the economy.
(Sadly, we're just re-opening things anyway, before it's safe.)
Con
New Privilege
Vaccine passports would exacerbate a new category of haves and have-nots. People with vaccines would not only be safer from the virus but would then also get rights and privileges that other people don't have. So it would be doubly unfair.
Unfairness
In addition, existing privilege is correlated with this new privilege. For example, it helps to have good internet access, the ability to get vaccinated during business hours, and perhaps the ability to a few hours away to get there.some people's health conditions mean they cannot get the vaccine.
And some people can't safely get vaccines due to other health conditions.
And I've heard that some Black people are afraid to get the vaccine because of a history of evil treatment such as the Tuskegee experiment. Part of me wants to tell them, no, it's okay, everyone's getting it. But another part of me would not be at all surprised to hear a news story about, say, a batch of vaccine that accidentally got thawed too long, and instead of throwing it out, the company decided to divert it to a low-income or minority neighborhood.
And I've heard that instead of a cute booklet, which you might stamp with cute stamps for all your different vaccines, it's going to be some kind of electronic thing, which would require a smart phone, which not everyone has.
Black Market
Poor people would be incentivized to sell their passports to rich people who don't deserve them. This would mean those places aren't safe.
Except it's modern times so some people will be good at creating fake passports without even giving poor people any money (or, admittedly, taking their passports).
Inefficiency/Bureaucratic Red Tape
We're already getting vaccine cards. (Admittedly, they don't always fill in your name--you could put anyone's name in there.) You could use those, perhaps in conjunction with a photo ID, to achieve the same purpose.
Weird Politics
In the olden days, I would have thought that Republicans would be pro-passport or at least pro-differential treatment based on vaccination status (to improve the economy and to reward people taking responsibility for getting themselves vaccinated). And I would have thought that Democrats would be anti-passport (because of the unfairness issues).
But no. Because Trumpists are anti-reality, they have been making up stories about the evils of the vaccine and pretending the virus is no big deal to anyone who's not practically dead anyway, and they've decided that it's very important that they have the right to not get vaccinated. But of course, they don't want to self-isolate either. So they're actually anti-passport.
And now it's the Democrats who are willing to overlook the temporary inequalities (since there we have the policy of providing vaccines to everyone for free, and soon there will even be enough for everyone).