OPINION | EDITORIAL: Vaccine passports

Permission slips to begin life again

In 1983, less than 15 percent of those Americans polled said they used seat belts regularly. No state had required seat belt use by then anyway. New York state would become the first in 1984. Before that, cars didn't necessarily come equipped with seat belts, but you could pay for the option, like you would for any other unnecessary gadget.

After all, requiring people to wear seat belts was an infringement on liberty, personal freedom, and the American Way. To heck with what the insurance actuaries said. Besides, it was just common sense to know a body--literally, a body--would be better off being thrown clear of a car wreck than being tangled up in it with a belt.

This being America, Americans went to court about it.

Lawsuit after lawsuit challenged mandatory seat belt laws. Such legislation was a violation of a person's right to privacy under the United States Constitution! Such laws were an expansion of a state's police power! A case in North Carolina said such laws represented involuntary servitude; that is, slavery.

The courts said such arguments were nonsense. And today we (remarkably still free) Americans sit down in our cars and trucks and buckle up. Forget the law and traffic tickets. Most of us would feel naked and vulnerable without a seat belt.

This past weekend's Perspective section featured an opinion piece by Joe Nocera, who claims vaccine passports are coming--so get used to it. In order to get back to normal again, a lot of us will start carrying little cards in our wallets with QR codes on them. And most of us believe the world--or the American way of life--will not end because of them.

Not everybody will be on board, though. There are those among the Don't Tread On Me crowd who say they'll carry such vaccine passports when The Abyss freezes over.

Okay. But they'll probably have to give up some fun stuff. We don't see government-mandated vaccine passports coming anytime soon. Certainly nothing like mandatory seat belt laws.

But we do see vaccine passports coming to aid the private sector. And eventually we will all get used to them.

Mr. Nocera's article (if you missed it, you can find it with a few clicks in the replica edition) quotes the Joe Biden administration as saying Americans would not be required to "obtain a single vaccination credential." But that doesn't mean the feds can't help create passes for those who'd like them. Nor does it mean credentials won't be required by others:

"There may not be a single national passport, but states and the private sector are developing any number of certification apps. Regardless of what they are called or however strident the opposition, vaccine passports are, in fact, going to be inevitable for any return to something resembling normal interaction."

The state of Arkansas could do something similar to the state of New York by issuing such cards (using some of those millions the state got for supposedly combating the pandemic or stimulating our way out of it). Again, these cards might not be required of all citizens. But private businesses might require them for safety reasons, and the state could help boost the economy by streamlining them, making them uniform, and cheaply available.

To those who'd protest: Colleges and universities have already begun requiring proof of vaccination--except in the cases of medical or religious reasons. A person doesn't have to get vaccinated to be a citizen, but he might to attend a college course. Other countries have begun requiring proof of vaccination, too. A person doesn't have to get vaccinated to be a homebody, but he might have to show a vaccine card to board a flight to France. The number of sports venues requiring proof of vaccination will only grow in the coming months. A person doesn't have to get vaccinated to watch football on TV, but he might to watch a game in person.

As the economy begins to open, more and more businesses and entertainment venues will begin requiring these passports--for maybe no reason other than insurance requirements. Those who'd rather not participate in immunizations can stay at home with their rights on.

NB: All of these vaccinations, and credentialed proofs thereof, would be completely voluntary. But these "passports" would give others, like private businesses, the option of requiring such proof in their privately owned buildings in the name of employee/customer safety. And the state could offer this handy way of proving immunity.

There are some theories that "vaccine passports" don't even have to be "vaccine passports," but only proof that a person doesn't have covid-19 lurking around inside of them. A person can carry around the card to show ushers, ticket-sellers and airline employees that they'd at least been tested recently, and have turned up negative. Another theory says that being required to take those awful, nasty, uncomfortable, excruciating nose-to-brain covid tests every few days will encourage folks to get vaccines in short order.

Still, count on opposition.

Just as there was opposition to seat belts. And car seats for children. And helmets for motorcycle riders. And proof of ID to buy cigarettes.

Americans did get used to all of that in the name of community safety. We'll get used to another little card in our wallet, too.

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