Your Papers Please

After months of misleading or outright lying to the American people about the COVID-19 virus, public officials and the media are expressing alarm and concern about the number of Americans who say they will not be getting any of the new vaccines that supposedly protect against infection by the virus.

Reports are surfacing from around the country that as many as half of those eligible for first-round vaccinations are refusing them. These are mostly front-line medical professionals and staff and residents in long-term care facilities.

Grounds for refusal range from concerns about the speed with which the vaccine was developed, political reasons and skepticism about the vaccine’s effectiveness, to being in a demographic with low risk of complications if they should get COVID-19.

My wife is a healthcare professional and did receive the Moderna vaccine last week. No problems. But we both raised eyebrows when reading the fact sheet handed to those who were vaccinated. On page one, three-quarters of the way down it reads, “The Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine is an unapproved vaccine that may prevent COVID-19. There is no FDA-approved vaccine to prevent COVID-19.” With confidence-building statements like that, no wonder people are deciding to wait. And therein lies the problem.

The fewer the people who get vaccinated, the greater the chance the virus will be with us for some time and cause periodic spikes in infections. The number of vaccinated people in a population to obtain “herd immunity” keeps changing. It was as low as 40 percent but we’re now told it has to be 70 or 80 percent. If there’s no change in the number of people refusing the injection, mandatory vaccination is being considered.

There are big legal hurdles to clear for the U.S. government, as it is today, to require vaccination against someone’s will. That’s why the focus is on making life inconvenient for those refusing vaccinations in other ways.

Active efforts are underway to require presentation of a “health passport” containing immunization records in order to fly on airplanes, attend large venues such as concerts and sporting events, use public transportation, and even allowing businesses to require proof of vaccination from patrons before entry is permitted. You doubt me?

IBM already has an app called Digital Health Pass that can theoretically serve the purpose. The Commons Project, Part of The Common Trust Network, gets support from The World Economic Forum (remember it from my Great Reset columns?) and has an app called CommonPass that allows users to upload results from a COVID-19 test. It’s reportedly working with six major airlines to develop a digital health credential.

Many may see nothing wrong with this. After all, vaccines are required for kids to attend school in many districts already. But we ought to be concerned about what this could lead to. In many ways, COVID-19 is a practice run. You can bet interested parties are gathering all kinds of data about how people react to pandemics and emergency health directives. And somewhere some entity is taking note of those who comply, those who don’t, those who advocate for more government oversight, and those who advocate for personal liberty. You may think you’re neutral, but you’re already placed in one camp or another based on digital tracking of what you do and say every day. But that will have to wait for another column.