Are vaccine passports a good idea?
They are likely to make the biggest difference to international travel
ON MARCH 7TH, after six months of selling takeaways, the beer was once more flowing in the pizzeria at Bet Romano in Tel Aviv. The bar and restaurant upstairs were packed. Most patrons carried proof that they had received a double dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, but no one asked to see it. At nearby establishments that were trying harder to verify vaccination status, people queued with pieces of paper and smartphones. These contained authorisations from health-care providers; immunisation certificates from the health ministry; and the “green pass”, a government app that confirms vaccination and which is illustrated with a picture of a family frolicking across a verdant landscape.
This article appeared in the Science & technology section of the print edition under the headline “Back to normality?”
Science & technology March 13th 2021
From the March 13th 2021 edition
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