First, like Reiss, he doesn’t feel “vaccine passport” is the best possible name for vaccine certifications. John Swartzberg, a clinical professor emeritus of infectious diseases and vaccinology at Berkeley’s School of Public Health, thinks so-with a couple of caveats. Are vaccine passports a credible mechanism for keeping people safe? Legalities aside, there’s the question of public health. “The collective bargaining agreement of a unionized workforce may limit the ability of an employer to require vaccinations without engaging in negotiations with the union.”īut when it comes to travel requirements, Reiss says “there’s not much that can be done to resist that legally.” Foreign countries have sovereign authority to require vaccination documentation, and airlines and cruise lines are generally allowed to impose restrictions as well. Unions may also figure into vaccination requirements, she says. There are so many barriers to getting vaccinated now that passports aren’t really fair. “It’s unclear where it all goes because nothing has been interpreted by the courts yet.” “Under the EUA, the Secretary of Health and Human Services allowed the use of the vaccines, but taking them remains a matter of personal choice,” says Reiss. The FDA sanctioned the vaccines under an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA)-essentially, an acknowledgement that the vaccines were fast-tracked and not subjected to the standard regulatory process technically, they are not federally approved, nor are they licensed. Food and Drug Administration to green light COVID vaccines. Still, some uncertainty over the issue remains due to the process used by the U.S. Likewise, universities and other public institutions can require mandatory vaccinations, subject to the same stipulations of the Civil Rights Act and the ADA, Reiss says. And again, the employer can still require vaccinations if it imposes ‘undue hardship’ on the company.” “An op-out can hinge on the availability and effectiveness of PPE such as masks and face shields. “Employers have to participate in a ‘good faith’ process to determine if the disability is a qualification for an exemption and if the employee can be protected from COVID while working,” she says. Similarly, disabled employees can be exempted from compulsory vaccination if their disabilities raise safety concerns, says Reiss. “But the employer could still require vaccinations for such employees if it imposes an ‘undue hardship’ on the company’s operations.” “Under the Civil Rights Act, employers must provide a ‘reasonable accommodation’ to an employee who expresses a sincere religious belief that would prevent them from getting vaccinated,” Reiss says. King in 1922, the Court determined that the San Antonio, Texas, school district had a constitutional right to bar unvaccinated students from its campuses.Ĭurrently, employers and public institutions can require vaccinations subject to certain limits detailed in the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, says Reiss. Massachusetts, the Court declared states were authorized to require and enforce mandatory vaccinations. Supreme Court rulings have upheld compulsory vaccination laws. There’s no single ‘passport.’ There are a range of tactical issues that bear on vaccination certification.” “The controversy is strictly a political one. But there’s no significant ambiguity on that point, says Berkeley Law Professor Dorit Rubinstein Reiss, an authority on vaccine law and policy. Indeed, many civil libertarians have questioned the essential legality of vaccine passports. And the governors of Texas and Florida have announced bans on vaccine passports, barring businesses and government agencies from requiring them. The Biden administration has declared it will not enforce a verification mandate nor maintain a federal vaccination database. Some business coalitions also backed away from them, fearing consumer backlash. They would allow vaccinated people to gather en masse at concerts and sporting events, in gyms, and on cruises and flights, secure in their mutual immunity.īut the concept hit roadblocks almost immediately, with vaccine opponents and many conservatives declaring certification an invasion of privacy. Thus, the interest in so-called COVID “passports”: app-accessed digital certifications that confirm inoculations against the coronavirus. There is increasing concern that the highly contagious variants now circulating could fuel a nationwide surge this summer. Photo: iStockĮven as California inches toward economic and social reopening, the virus is running rampant in other states-most notably, Michigan-and outside the U.S., in countries that have received little or no vaccine. But just because they’re legal, doesn’t mean they’re without controversy. Supreme Court rulings have historically upheld compulsory vaccination laws.
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