Does Arizona Need Vaccine Passports? Patch Readers Weigh In

ARIZONA — A majority of Arizona Patch readers are against the idea of a statewide vaccine passport — a kind of digital credential that would show a person's vaccination status or recent negative test of COVID-19 as a way for them to possibly attend sporting events or enter businesses.

As more and more people are vaccinated against COVID-19, the idea of a vaccine passport has been in the public discourse and states are taking steps to either explore the idea or reject it altogether.

Patch received just over 200 responses to our survey, with 55 percent of respondents saying they opposed the idea of a vaccine passport. Conversely, 87.9 percent of respondents said that they did not have data privacy concerns around the use of such a credential.

When asked about the specific types of concerns they had, readers said they should be able to keep medical information private.

The survey is not a scientific poll, with random sampling and weighting by race education or other factors, but should be viewed as a broad gauge of public sentiment.

Many readers cited HIPAA and claimed it would be violation of the law to require a vaccine passport. However, a fact check of this claim makes it clear that is not the case. The law's privacy rule applies to covered entities like doctors and prevents them from sharing medical information with third parties, as The Washington Post explained.

"HIPAA doesn’t apply if nobody involved is part of the medical system; it’s not technically a medical record," Carmel Shachar, a Harvard Law lecturer, told Slate in December.

A fact-check by Atlanta-based news outlet 11Alive also found that an individual voluntarily sharing medical information is consenting to let that information be shared.

That's not to say there aren't legitimate privacy concerns around the use of a vaccine passport, as digital data breaches are now common.

The 45 percent of respondents who said they supported a vaccine passport shared some of the settings where they felt such a passport could be used. Below is a sampling of the locations:

• All settings.
• Sporting events, fairs, air travel and other public transport. In general, any locale where people cannot avoid being close together.
• Business or company owner's option to require or not.

"International travel already requires a shot record; this is what should be used by all venues, to include schools and businesses," one respondent said.

A vast majority of Patch readers were against requiring residents to show proof of vaccination (90.1 percent against). When it came to letting private businesses and employers put their own policies in place, a smaller yet still overwhelming majority (nearly 74 percent) of these readers, said they were opposed to it.

Those opposed to the passports were also largely against health screenings like temperature checks at restaurants and movie theaters (nearly 77 percent), COVID-19 vaccine requirements for domestic or international air travel (92 percent) and a majority (nearly 90 percent) said they would not feel safer attending an event or eating at a restaurant knowing others around them had been vaccinated for COVID-19.

"This idea is a violation of human rights, freedoms and our constitution," one respondent said.

"vaccination passports are a form of medical discrimination and can cause a greater divide in people across the world. Especially in the US. It is not anyone's business whether or not I personally am vaccinated," another respondent wrote. "That is unethical and not right nor fair."

"I personally wouldn't object to vaccine passports, but there is so much discord and objection to simply wearing a mask, that I think a passport requirement to do simple things like shop, dine out, etc. would only cause more division and potential violence," a respondent said. "I do however feel that because COVID-19 is so highly contagious and still of pandemic status, that until the majority of people are vaccinated, in certain situations either showing your vaccine card or being spot tested is warranted by businesses, schools, large public events, travel and other activities where others around you might be at risk."

"I lived through the HIV crisis of the 80s and saw the damage done by labeling, stigmatizing and blaming suffering victims," another person wrote.

"Restricting my travel is a violation of my rights," another wrote. "The vaccine should not be forced upon you in any way and I'm fully vaccinated."