Vaccine passports are a matter of Missouri getting back to normal, not politics
Gov. Mike Parson’s announced Thursday that he will not require Missourians to show they’ve been inoculated against COVID-19 with a “vaccine passport” — meaning he’s deflecting the responsibility to keep people safe onto businesses and municipalities.
“If the private sector wants to do that, I’m fine with that,” Parson told reporters. “As far as the state goes, we won’t mandate vaccine passports.”
It sounds a lot like his refusal to issue a statewide mask mandate or take a definitive stance on when to close schools or businesses, even while COVID-19 infections were exploding across the state. In some parts of Missouri, masks were never required in public places. Parson took some heat for those decisions.
Kansas City health officials don’t seem to think it’s likely people will be made to carry a vaccine passport in the city any time soon.
“I think that would take a lot of real careful thought and scrutiny before we would go there,” Kansas City Health Director Dr. Rex Archer told The Star Editorial Board last month.
But he also said he thinks “that passport vaccination issue would be an important strategy in protecting us,” and added that there are ethical and equity concerns to consider in ensuring that vulnerable populations are not unintentionally, unjustly or unfairly targeted.
OK, can’t we address those concerns?
Let’s keep in mind that it wouldn’t be the first rule individual Americans have to follow to protect the whole. It’s not political — it’s about smart public health policy. We all have to maintain car insurance to drive legally, and a driver’s license to prove we’ve gotten some level of training to keep ourselves and our fellow motorists safe. Children are required to be vaccinated before attending public school.
Meanwhile, North Kansas City-based Cerner is busy working to create a secure digital passport system that would allow people to show proof of vaccination to enter public spaces — movie theaters, restaurants, stadiums, bars — where one might worry about coming in contact with a virus carrier.
That flimsy paper card you get at the vaccination centers might be good in the state and hold up temporarily, but it’s not going to cut it in the long term. Other states have already figured out that those cards are too easily counterfeited and are looking to go digital.
Some states, such as New York, launched their own passports about a week ago. Other state governments and businesses are considering it. Around the world, governments and businesses are already using some form of vaccine passport and requiring them for people to engage in certain activities.
Last week, health ministers of G-7 countries, including Canada, the U.K., France, Germany and Japan met and agreed there needs to be some system that’s recognizable no matter where a person travels, according to a report in Travelweek.
The pandemic is not over by a long stretch, even as the number of Americans who’ve received at least one vaccine shot climbs toward 100 million. Health officials warn that we still have virus variants to worry about, and people are still getting sick and dying.
Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services Director Dr. Randall Williams on Thursday said there remains a notable level of skepticism about the vaccine, and that is contributing to distribution issues in the state.
But said he’s working on a $5 million project with trusted community leaders to provide information about the vaccine to combat public concerns.
As for state-mandated vaccine passports or health certificates, Parson can say what he wants now, but once businesses start turning away folks who don’t have proof of vaccination, it seems inevitable that some type of statewide digitized proof of vaccination credential will be needed.
Some Republican state senators last week rejected the idea of vaccine passports as unnecessarily restricting freedom of travel, and suggested the state ban them altogether.
An amendment from state Sen. Lincoln Hough, a Republican from Greene County, would prohibit organizations from requiring COVID-19 vaccination documentation to get on airplanes, buses, cabs or trains, was attached to a transportation bill and adopted last week. It’s awaiting a third reading.
We’re not in favor of that. Airlines and other transportation networks are private businesses. Isn’t the GOP pledged to protect them from new government interference?
It’s more likely that Missourians will be screaming for these passports eventually anyway, because not having them will mean we won’t be able to engage with the rest of the country, the rest of the globe. Soon, no one will be getting on a plane without proof of vaccination.
And imagine visiting family and friends or vacationing outside the state. Even if you get there, you may not be allowed into the concert hall, the festival — maybe not even into a hotel room. You want to go see your Chiefs, your Royals play? You’re probably going to have to prove you’ve gotten that shot in the arm with a scannable code on your phone or the back of your driver’s license.
Either Missouri is going to have to join the world club on this one, or just be left out.