Vaccine 'passports,' incentives raise fears over privacy and discrimination

Efforts to institute "vaccine passports" that identify those inoculated against COVID-19 are raising alarm about infringing on the civil liberties and privacy of Americans on the other side of the pandemic, while business campaigns to incentivize both employees and customers to get shots are raising some concerns about discrimination.

World leaders were calling for a vaccine for COVID-19 nearly at the outset of the pandemic in 2020, with health experts claiming that vaccinations were the only feasible path back toward normalcy and prosperity for the world. 

The development and rollout of the vaccines has coincided with growing demands for vaccinated individuals to be able to identify themselves when taking part in public life, with industry leaders and politicians proposing various systems to verify an individual's inoculation status quickly and reliably. 

Those demands have coalesced around what are being called "vaccine passports." In some areas such programs are moving forward rapidly.

In New York State, for instance, Gov. Andrew Cuomo last week rolled out what he said was a first-in-the-nation "transformational technology" meant to identify individuals who have been injected with the coronavirus vaccine. 

Multiple businesses and industries, meanwhile, are offering perks for vaccinated individuals in an effort to incentivize as many Americans as possible to get the shot.

Concerns over privacy, data storage

Some commentators and experts are speaking out against the passport proposals, claiming they could pose a threat to the civil fabric of the United States due to privacy concerns and potentially as a significant number of people who forego the vaccine are increasingly excluded from public life.