Thought of the Day - October 9 - Immunity Passports Revisited

We first touched on immunity passports back in the spring when discussing COVID management strategies ( Thought of the Day - April 27 - Strategy 2.0 ). That said this idea was also strongly warned against by the WHO back in April:

• So many unknowns concerning immunity

• Tests can't be trusted

• Would not available to everyone

• Privacy concerns

• Marginalization / Labelling / Discrimination

• Wilful infections

In May, Trudeau stated it was "premature to speculate about" the possibility of businesses requiring Canadians to show immunity passports" and Tam reflected the same thinking.

Fast forward six months. Airlines are now striving to introduce their own immunity passports. United Airlines and Cathay Pacific are trialling the CommonPass app. The volunteer-based program is currently operating out of Heathrow airport on flights between New York, Hong Kong and Singapore (this may be connected with the Airbridge initiative: Thought of the Day - August 28 - Air Bridge ). The incentive, a rapid testing option and being allowed to skip the 14 day quarantine.

“Without the ability to trust COVID-19 tests — and eventually vaccine records — across international borders, many countries will feel compelled to retain full travel bans and mandatory quarantines for as long as the pandemic persists,” said Dr. Bradley Perkins of the Commons Project, the branch of the World Economic Forum which is in part backing the venture, in a press release.

Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Israel, Colombia, Argentina, Estonia and the U.S. are also considering implementing immunity passports. And while CommonPass is getting plenty of press it is just one of the platforms being piloted.

Have any of the areas of concern highlighted by WHO really been addressed? Of course not. This is about saving the airline and travel industry. It is a pawn in the vaccine wars. It is an idea that will be implemented, it is just a matter of when and how. More importantly it does mean it is time for Canadian authorities to readdress the issue, plans are to introduce the CommonPass before the end of 2020, so we will have a say in the when and the how.

Cheers

Cliff