{"id":227230,"date":"2021-02-08T07:57:16","date_gmt":"2021-02-08T07:57:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=227230"},"modified":"2021-02-10T05:04:59","modified_gmt":"2021-02-10T05:04:59","slug":"freedom-and-fairness-covid-vaccine-passport-plans-cause-global-unease","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=227230","title":{"rendered":"Freedom and fairness: Covid vaccine passport plans cause global unease"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kate Connolly — The Gaurdian.co.uk Sept 7, 2020<\/strong><\/h1>\n

It is the question being asked with increasing urgency around the world, at least in countries where the vaccine is already available: how much freedom to live life as it was before the pandemic should be granted to those who have been vaccinated against Covid-19?<\/p>\n

Its impacts range from the speed at which economies can open, to when grandparents and grandchildren can hug again, but it is causing growing unease among decision-makers who warn there is a danger of dividing societies already under huge strain due to pandemic restraints.<\/p>\n

Germany\u2019s ethics council, an independent body that advises the government, has recommended that no special conditions be granted to the inoculated. It declared it was \u201ccurrently unacceptable to lift state restrictions on civil liberties\u201d, arguing not only was there a lack of evidence over whether vaccinated people could still spread the virus, but that introducing special privileges for them might encourage an \u201celbow mentality\u201d which could lead to unrest. If there was to be a priority, it should go to the vaccinated residents of care homes in recognition of the extraordinary burdens they face.<\/p>\n

But private enterprises including restaurants and cinemas could not be prevented from applying their own rules, the council conceded, and last week the German ticket company Eventim said it had already revamped its online booking service to allow for customers to upload proof that they had been vaccinated in anticipation that organisers of events from concerts to sports tournaments will in future require it as a condition of entry.<\/p>\n

State-backed schemes are moving ahead more quickly in Scandinavia, where Denmark has announced plans to introduce a digital vaccine passport and Sweden<\/a> said it would have a digital vaccine passport by summer if international standards were in place. Sweden\u2019s digitalisation minister, Anders Ygeman, said such documentation would have to become the norm if the world was going to get going again.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen Sweden and countries around us start to open up our societies again, vaccination certificates are likely to be required for travel and possibly for taking part in other activities,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The UK vaccine minister, Nadhim Zahawai, has said the government does not plan to introduce vaccine passports to enable people to travel abroad, but those who needed proof could get it from their GP.<\/p>\n

Israeli officials have hinted at the prospect of a \u201cgreen passport\u201d to allow vaccinated people to eat in restaurants, go to the theatre and cinema, travel freely and be exempted from quarantine when travelling internationally.<\/p>\n

The passport, which would be given to those with two Pfizer shots, has been sold as a way to encourage people to be immunised, but is also viewed as an effort to jump-start the economy. However, as there is uncertainty around whether vaccines reduce transmission, the idea has been met with scepticism.<\/p>\n

Fear over the more transmissible virus variants has delayed a decision and legal issues are causing authorities a headache. A proposal to only allow vaccinated teachers to restart work has face pushback from those who argue it is an illegally coercive measure.<\/p>\n

In the US, President Joe Biden asked government agencies to investigate the feasibility of producing digital versions of vaccine certificates in one of his first executive orders<\/a>. Greece\u2019s prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, has proposed the EU push ahead with a common vaccination certificate that could help create a \u201cfast travel lane\u201d.<\/p>\n

A universal document, probably digital, providing official proof that someone has been vaccinated against, or tested for, coronavirus may become a reality within months \u2013 as much a part of life as going out of the house with a face mask.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Continues \u2026<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The proposed document opens the way for a global, digital ID system that will determine the extent of individual freedom: how far the passport holder can travel and where, whether they can eat out and so on <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39262,"featured_media":223407,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[105,52,59],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-227230","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-coronavirus","category-Implants_and_surveillance_technology","category-Surveillance"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/39262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=227230"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227230\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":227301,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227230\/revisions\/227301"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/223407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=227230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=227230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=227230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}