Do You Support A Vaccine Passport In Illinois? Take Our Survey

ILLINOIS — With more and more Illinoisans and Americans being vaccinated daily, the topic of vaccine passports has been in the public discourse. As of Thursday, 6.5 million doses of coronavirus vaccines have been distributed to Illinois residents.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker has expressed support for vaccine passports, saying a vaccination app would be useful.

"I do like the idea, though, that everybody will have with them easily on their device — most people carry their devices with them — some way to show that they've been vaccinated," the governor said.

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However, Pritzker said he doesn't think vaccine passports should be required to enter an event or a facility.

Other states are moving forward with plans for vaccine passports — or for banning them. For example, New York is already testing its so-called "Excelsior Pass." In Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott has moved to ban state agencies or anyone receiving public funds from requiring proof of vaccination against COVID-19. And Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed an executive order banning vaccine passports.

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The passports would be a way for a person to show that they have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or have recently tested negative for the virus. Such a passport could be required for air travel or sporting events.

Patch wants to know how you feel about the topic. Take our survey below to let us know.

For now, there doesn't seem to be a federal vaccine passport that Americans will be required to carry. On Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said there will be no federal mandate requiring everyone to have a single vaccination credential, and the administration has said it would leave that up to private companies.

"The government is not now, nor will we be, supporting a system that requires Americans to carry a credential," Psaki said. "There will be no federal vaccinations database and no federal mandate requiring everyone to obtain a single vaccination credential."

Anyone who completes the vaccine series for COVID-19 does receive a paper record from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Those concerned about the proposal have privacy concerns about health information getting leaked, which experts say is valid. However, a claim that the passports would violate HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) is not true. As The Washington Post reported, the law does not apply to the information itself but rather to covered entities such as doctors or insurance companies who are not allowed to share a patient's medical information with anyone.

See the results of another Illinois Patch survey: IL Reopening: Drop Capacity Limits, Keep Masks, Readers Say