Covid-19 Vaccine Passports Are a Ticket to Nowhere
Gloomy visions of an inoculated elite lording it over everyone else won’t get needles in arms any faster.
In the not so distant future.
Photographer: Aris Messinis/AFP via Getty Images
Every identity document brings its own dystopia. Austrian author Stefan Zweig, who saw the modern passport change international travel after the First World War, wrote: “Formerly man had only a body and soul. Now he needs a passport as well, for without it he will not be treated like a human being.” More recently, after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the U.S., the spread of biometric passports raised concerns over security and privacy. “With the old passport, we knew where we stood,” the BBC reported in 2006.
Today, it’s the prospect of a Covid-19 vaccine certificate that’s conjuring up digital-dictatorship fears. The idea is being pushed by the travel industry as a leap towards normality after the worst year on record for international tourism and by technology firms eager for lucrative government contracts and a gold mine of data. Yes, it’s nice to daydream about being able to travel freely again, but critics say it would introduce an unequal society in which an inoculated elite get the freedom to fly long-haul, attend concerts or dine in restaurants. Do we really want to be divided between the jabs and the jab-nots?