Vaccination Passports: If You Know Something, Show Something

DALLAS —Governor Greg Abbott and Arizona Governor Doug Ducey are in lockstep about the use of so-called "vaccination passports."

These, of course, are the cards that health care workers hand each person as they receive one of the three vaccines proven effective to minimize the possibility of becoming infected with COVID-19. And, in a world where scientists and physicians never provide an ironclad guarantee, the evidence is that all of the vaccines are safe and only on the rarest of occasions has a person died from the coronavirus after being inoculated or worse — after receiving one of the vaccines.

Many in the medical and political community agree that the politicization of masks, government-mandated shutdowns and social distancing led to countless thousands of unnecessary deaths and hospitalizations. Now apparently it's time to shift the focus to vaccination cards.

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They're nickamed "passports," because presenting them under certain circumstances will gain the bearer entry to privately run businesses. And since President Biden has announced 200 million Americans have had at least one dose of one vaccine, that means that we're somewhere around the halfway mark on our slow march to herd immunity.

Abbott and Ducey know that their shutdowns were unpopular. Their mask mandates raised hackles, and as politicians aware that popularity is currency, they want no part of anything that could be a drag on their poll numbers.

At the other end of the spectrum, there are businesses looking to profit by creating digital versions of a vaccine passport — the kind you'd carry around in your phone and present when asked at a restaurant, event or even boarding a flight.

But what neither side is taking much into account is the peace of mind Americans could feel if they knew that everyone around them is as virus-bulletproof as science could make them.

Abbott's remarks on the issue go a step further in offering an olive branch to those who have no intention of getting the vaccine, no matter how available it is. "As I have said all along, these vaccines are always voluntary and never forced," the governor says. "Government should not require any Texan to show proof of vaccination and reveal private health information just to go about their daily lives."

But advocates aren't asking if you're carrying an STD, you've undergone chemo, or if you're on dialysis. They don't want to know all your health information. They just want to know if being in a room with you is going to put them at risk of COVID, that's all.

Is it invasive to know, or to want to know, the status of folks sitting next to you in church, at a nightclub or at an indoor graduation? What about the "individual liberties" and "personal freedoms" of those who'd like a heads-up if someone coughs on them or sneezes in their direction that it's just a cough or sneeze — like in The Before Times?

Yes, there's a loud contingent of Dallasites and Texans in general who've had enough of anything having to do with COVID, prevention included. But that, the experts say, is what's prolonged the pandemic in the first place.

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