Skip to content
Subscriber Only
Business

Chile Backtracks on ‘Immunity Cards’ Amid Backlash Over Bias

  • Concept of coronavirus immunity cards debated globally
  • Health Minister Manalich cited potential discrimination
A pedestrian crosses a nearly empty street in Santiago, Chile, on Monday, April 20, 2020. Chile has a system of rolling obligatory quarantines based on a formula combining an area's new cases per capita, the size of its elderly population and access to health care.
A pedestrian crosses a nearly empty street in Santiago, Chile, on Monday, April 20, 2020. Chile has a system of rolling obligatory quarantines based on a formula combining an area's new cases per capita, the size of its elderly population and access to health care.
Updated on

Chile is ditching plans to pioneer a system of immunity cards for those who’ve recovered from Covid-19 following warnings it could fuel discrimination -- and more infection.

The system, which would have been the first of its type in the world, was officially halted for one of the very reasons it was initially considered -- to avoid creating a two-tier jobs market, Health Minister Jaime Manalich said on Sunday.