Vaccine certification: when intolerance meets hypochondria | Hacker News Reader

Vaccine certification: when intolerance meets hypochondria

thecritic.co.uk

3 pointswalterbell3 comments

This is even worse in the US, where COVID "passports" are being treated as perfectly reasonable and legal for private business to demand. Hardly anybody is asking the question about what precedent this is setting for other invasive checks. If an airline can demand proof of vaccination for COVID-19, can they do the same for flu vaccines? How long before they can demand a wellness letter from a doctor or medical professional, similar to what's required for pets? All of this and more can be easily justified in the name of public health.

Are private businesses allowed to choose who they do business with? That’s what this boils down to.

To put it in culture-warrior wedge-issue terms: Can a bakery refuse to serve a gay patron? Can a bakery refuse to serve a patron without vaccination documents?

What about an airline? Or a university?

Does the CDC have extraordinarily wide latitude to dictate policy during a pandemic that’s now killed more than 550,000 people in the US?

The only question I know the definitive legal answer to is the last one, and the answer is “Yes.” I additionally know the answer to your question about precedents: also “Yes.” https://www.npr.org/2021/04/08/985253421/the-history-of-vacc... . (For the record, I found that by googling «vaccine passport history».)

Otherwise, and I won’t mince words here, fucking *yawn*. There’s tremendous overlap - though obviously not 100% - in the Venn diagram of people who refuse to wear a mask in order to avoid killing their neighbors because of ‘freedumb’ and people who have a problem with vaccination documentation.

Also, if you're interested in the topic of vaccine documentation, be sure to check out OP's other submissions:

3. Covid testing must not become new norm to fly, says airline trade body IATA (theguardian.com) 1 point by walterbell 4 hours ago | unflag | past | discuss

5. Digital Identity Infrastructure: What’s Really at Stake with Vaccine Passports (cigionline.org) 2 points by walterbell 2 days ago | flag | past | discuss

13. Covid vaccine passports: Health experts are deeply concerned (cnbc.com) 9 points by walterbell 5 days ago | flag | past | discuss

16. Everything You Need to Know About “Vaccine Passports” (motherjones.com) 1 point by walterbell 6 days ago | flag | past | 1 comment

23. Covid Vaccine Passports 2021: The Golden Ticket for International Travel? (bloomberg.com) 3 points by walterbell 7 days ago | flag | past | discuss

27. Covid contact app team NHSX now creating vaccine passports (thetimes.co.uk) 2 points by walterbell 7 days ago | flag | past | discuss

30. Vaccine Passports: ICC, MasterCard, IBM Join ID2020 Good Health Pass Initiative (ledgerinsights.com) 3 points by walterbell 8 days ago | flag | past | 2 comments

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