There is a growing debate about vaccine passports, with some members of the GOP disliking the initiative, Black Enterprise reports.
The passports, created to verify users have received the COVID-19 vaccine, is a step that is ruffling the feathers of some Republicans who think the passports are an invasion of privacy, the article added.
“We have constitutional rights and health privacy laws for a reason,” said Republican House Majority Leader Kerry Benninghoff of Pennsylvania said in the article. “They should not cease to exist in a time of crisis. These passports may start with COVID-19, but where will they end?”
On the flip side, Democratic leaders, primarily President Joe Biden, are asking people to get vaccinated — calling it a requirement coupled with enforcing a mask mandate, the article added.
However, Civil rights advocates like Electronic Frontier Foundation are against vaccine passports.
The vaccine passport is your name, coupled with a QR code and a green checkmark, that informs administrators that the user is vaccinated or the recent date a person has been tested negative, per the article.
Israel has a similar app; some parts of Europe are conforming to the idea.
Despite Black and Brown communities being disproportionately impacted by COVID-19, there is a big racial gap for some in these communities who are interested being vaccinated. The article, and other data, states that Black people and Hispanic people are “sufficiently behind white people in receiving shots.”
EFF’s Alexis Hancock and Hayley Tsukayama mentioned in the article out how vaccine passports, like Excelsior Pass, use a tracking system to store records on a peer-to-peer network like blockchain.
“They argue, be a step toward a future where the government maintains digital IDs for everyone and uses them to collect and store personal information,” Gov Tech reported.
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