The author writes that “a passport is issued by a government and certifies personal data, many people fear that if they are required to have one related to the coronavirus, they will be handing over personal and sensitive health data” that may be abused by data controllers. As Ceylan Yeginsu of the New York Times argues, the term “vaccine passport” is polarizing and misleading.
Massachusetts, shows that there is well-established precedent for states to intervene with individual rights in order to protect public health. The Supreme Court’s landmark case, Jacobson v.
Intense political opposition to vaccine passports stems from a uniquely American conception of liberty. As of May 6, state bills have passed at least one legislative chamber in Alabama, Iowa, Missouri, Tennessee, and Texas, and similar measures have been introduced in Alaska, California, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, Ohio, and Washington. While New York State has launched its own digital health certificate, the Excelsior Pass, and San Francisco has mandated that all city employees must be vaccinated against COVID-19, states including Arkansas, Florida, and Indiana have successfully passed laws prohibiting COVID-19 vaccination requirements. Denmark, the U.K., China, Singapore, Malaysia, and India have also developed vaccine passports.īy contrast, the incongruent efforts across the United States to mandate or strongly recommend the use of vaccine passports have faltered largely due to partisanship and some acknowledgment of the absence of an omnibus data privacy law. Similarly, Israel initiated the “ Green Pass” system in February, which enables vaccinated people to download “ a health ministry app linked to their medical files” or present a vaccination certificate to gain access to gyms, hotels, theaters, indoor dining, and other venues that are reserved exclusively for the vaccinated.
But the EU passport has a firm basis in the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) laws to increase public confidence in its use. The EU has already recognized potential consumer abuses in its implementation of the Digital Green Certificate, which will be fully operative by July. Federal privacy legislation should be a national imperative as digital health certificates become more commonplace to ensure short- and long-term data protections, especially as more private companies are either collecting or requiring vaccination data. Former Research Intern, Center for Technology Innovation - The Brookings InstitutionĪs Congress continues to debate the need for federal privacy legislation, now is the time to implement a national standard on how personal data is collected and processed to avoid the abuse of fundamental rights.
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