Catch-22 Of Health Passports
AS borders around the world continue to flip-flop in the face of the pandemic, the travel & tourism industry is putting its collective force behind health passports in a bid to revive travel. Simply put, health passports would allow the industry to assess travelers based on their recently uploaded health and vaccination status, particularly pertaining to COVID-19.
While this may sound practical, there are various challenges ahead. Among these is a globally supported standard framework for health passports, digitised healthcare networks, and above all the ability to eliminate traveler discrimination based on their health status, and the protection and privacy of personally identifiable information.
A Myriad Queue
Health passports are meant to help travellers move hassle-free between destinations without having to carry a set of medical documents, especially the COVID-19 vaccination certificate. By using health passports to document recent - and mandatory - health information, travelers can ensure that they are complying with the destinations' entry requirements to minimize scrutiny and limit the chances of new community transmissions.
However, for all the valid benefits of health passports, there is also a great deal of underlying discrimination it could carry along.
