Vaccine Passports In MN? 37 Percent Say Yes

MINNESOTA — A majority of Minnesot 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 1,102 responses to our survey, with 62.6 percent of respondents saying they opposed the idea of a vaccine passport. A majority of those respondents said they had 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.

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 37.4 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:

• Air travel
• Indoor events
• Large gatherings
• Stadiums and sporting events
• Concerts
• Restaurants
• Cruise ships
• Public transportation
• Hospitals and other healthcare facilities
• Church

The vast majority (92 percent) of those in favor of the passport also said they did not have data privacy concerns around the use of such a passport.

Below are responses from people who support the idea of a vaccine passport:

• "Public health trumps privacy issues."
• "MN should enact this so we can get people who want to do things vaccinated and get back on track."
• "Mandatory masks until 330 million US citizens are vaccinated. Jury is still out on youngest children/infants."
• "Mandates are supported through the Supreme Court cases of Jacobson v. Massachusetts and Zucht v. King."
• "No time for anti-vaxxers - greedy & self centered"

Most readers (over 93 percent) who were opposed to the idea of a vaccine passport also said they did not believe residents should have to show proof of vaccination. When it came to letting private businesses and employers put their own policies in place, a smaller yet still overwhelming majority (nearly 76.8 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 (79 percent), COVID-19 vaccine requirements for domestic or international air travel (90.1 percent), and a majority (76.5 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.

Below are responses from people who oppose the idea of a vaccine passport:

• "This 'pandemic' is a scam."
• "We will move if that's what is comes to in MN! Matters of health are a personal decision."
• "Individual rights should be protected"
• "The vaccines are good for 6-12 months. Why would we want to waste time, money, effort on such a time-sensitive nonsense. Get over it!!!"
• "This is America. We should have freedom to live our lives without government controlling what or how we participate in society."
• "There is much we do not know about this "vaccine", so my fear lies in that."
• "No ID to vote, why proof you were vaccinated."
• "Do we have to fight another war to win independence from our own government?"