Part carrot, part stick but local vaccine passports can’t last

The double jabbed will be able to go to restaurants; but who will police the status? Picture by Damian Shaw

Politicians and political activists live in the moment, and they would like us to do the same in order to create a sense of a permanent state of crisis, lurching from one potential disaster to the next.

That’s why vaccination passports have been subject to babbling from certain quarters about a new Apartheid.

The hyperbole is a gross appropriation of history associated with one of the most immoral regimes on Earth.

A vaccine passport is nothing of the sort. In order to obtain one, you have to make a choice. The good news is, if you choose badly, you can choose again.

Vaccination status together with a passport tick will be a requirement for international travel for years to come, probably decades. Not because the world has drifted into authoritarianism but because if you choose to travel to another country, you are required to observe the laws of that country. It has always been thus. Nothing has changed.

But vaccine passports for domestic applications will be a short term device. I doubt we’ll be using them much beyond Christmas. Afterwards, we will wonder what all the fuss was about.

Vaccine passports were introduced in Denmark way back in March which permitted the fully-vaxxed to enjoy similar conveniences to those who will be extended to the fully-vaxxed in New South Wales once the magical figure of 70 per cent of the state’s population aged 16 or more is reached.

As of August 1, while nudging 75 per cent (of those aged 16 or more) of their population, the Danes have discarded vaccine passports, mandated mask-wearing and opened up their cities and towns. Since doing so their Covid-19 cases have declined. Not a lot but a little. There have been deaths – 64 from August 1 to present — but their health systems have not been overwhelmed and the great outbreaks the country experienced last Christmas have not returned.

Danes are able to enjoy normal life after dumping vaccine passports. Picture: AFP.

We only have one exemplar to look at in Australia thus far. The NSW Government has announced its ‘roadmap’ out of lockdown. The Victorian Government is due to announce its ‘roadmap’ on the weekend. That’s where we are with the political lexicon. We no longer have steps, plans or procedures. We have roadmaps.

The specifics in NSW only relate to what people can and cannot do once the magical figure of 70 per cent fully vaxxed is reached across the state. It’s a long list and includes the reintroduction of dancing at weddings while singing at places of worship will remain verboten. There’s a Methodist joke in there somewhere but in the interests of good taste, let’s move on.

The fixation on pubs is understandable in Australia. Those fully vaxxed may enter, have a drink while seated or stand in an outdoor setting, like your common or garden beer garden. Similarly, restaurants and cafes will be open to the fully vaxxed under the four square metre rule.

More problematic is the fully vaxxed may enter ‘non-critical’ retail stores while the unvaccinated may only continue to use what is referred to as critical retail – supermarkets, post offices, pharmacies.

Can anyone see a problem here?

Firstly, the goodies extended to the fully vaccinated will require proof of vaccination. An app of some description which reveals a big green tick. Something like that.

Vaccination certificates will be added to your digital wallet Image

Are we expecting shop assistants and bartenders to do the policing? Are we expecting people on minimum wage to be the gatekeepers? Do we expect them to confront angry and sometimes violent people insisting they should be permitted entry while the rules say they cannot?

The likelihood is that hospitality and retail staff in many cases are going to look the other way and that is perfectly understandable.

We need to avoid the bleak hyperbole attached to vaccine passports. A vaccine passport for domestic use is part carrot, part stick, part prophylaxis. It won’t be around for long and it may not work very well while it is in use.

Similarly, we need to downplay what I like to call the needle emoji of self-righteousness often displayed by the vaccinated on social media as if a Covid-19 vaccination can’t be truly effective without a hollow brag on Facebook.

A vaccine passport for domestic use is in no small way an incentive for as many people as possible to get vaccinated but it’s also designed to reduce the spread of infection. This is deeply woven in the fallacy often expressed by the self-righteous needle emoji bearing that the unvaccinated pose a risk to the vaccinated when the truth is the exact opposite.

While there is a body of data emerging that suggests the vaccinated are less infectious, it remains the case that those who are vaccinated may well be carrying Covid-19 viral loads (not as a result of vaccination but because the vaccination will render the large majority of those fully vaxxed asymptomatic) leaving the unvaccinated vulnerable.

The public health messaging on this has been terrible, virtually non-existent.

When we do open up (in NSW sometime in late October), the vaccinated have a duty of care to the unvaccinated. Those of us who are fully vaxxed need to be mindful that we may be the cause of infection to a group of people who may have been constrained by the limits of vaccine supply, or trypanophobics (no one ever thinks about them), or those who have missed the message on vaccination due to cultural and language differences, even those who have fallen prey to anti-vaxxer misinformation.

We owe them that. Infection control measures like mask-wearing and social distancing don’t have to be mandated. Vaccine passports will help initially but a bit of concern for our fellow Australians is a better starting point.

The reality of the situation is the vast majority of Australians will be fully vaccinated at some point in the near future. This country has a long and proud history of successful vaccination programs. We might hit 80 per cent. Maybe 90. For every percentile we fall short, more people will suffer Covid-19 related illness, more will be hospitalised, and more people will die. The salient fact is the overwhelming majority of those people will be unvaccinated.

And for every percentage point that we rise towards totality, a vaccination passport for domestic use becomes a short-term fix at best before ultimately becoming an anachronism.