coronavirus pandemic
What do we know about booster shots for COVID-19?
U.S. health officials may soon recommend COVID-19 booster shots for fully vaccinated Americans. A look at what we know about boosters and how they could help fight the coronavirus:
WHY MIGHT WE NEED BOOSTERS?
It’s common for protection from vaccines to decrease over time. A tetanus booster, for example, is recommended every 10 years.
Read: US okays Covid booster dose for those with weak immune systems
Researchers and health officials have been monitoring the real-world performance of the COVID-19 vaccines to see how long protection lasts among vaccinated people. The vaccines authorized in the U.S. continue to offer very strong protection against severe disease and death.
But laboratory blood tests have suggested that antibodies — one of the immune system’s layers of protection — can wane over time. That doesn’t mean protection disappears, but it could mean protection is not as strong or that it could take longer for the body to fight back against an infection.
The delta variant has complicated the question of when to give boosters because it is so much more contagious and much of the data gathered about vaccine performance is from before the delta variant was widely circulating. Delta is taking off at the same time that vaccine immunity might also be waning for the first people vaccinated.
Israel is offering a booster to people over 50 who were vaccinated more than five months ago. France and Germany plan to offer boosters to some people in the fall. The European Medicines Agency said it too is reviewing data to see if booster shots are needed.
WHEN WOULD THEY BE GIVEN?
It depends on when you got your initial shots. One possibility is that health officials will recommend people get a booster roughly eight months after getting their second shot of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine.
Officials are continuing to collect information about the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which was authorized for use in the U.S. in late February, to determine when to recommend boosters.
Read:US to recommend COVID vaccine boosters at 8 months
WHO WOULD GET THEM?
The first people vaccinated in the United States would likely be first in line for boosters too. That means health care workers, nursing home residents and other older Americans, who were the first to be vaccinated once the shots were authorized last December.
BOOSTER? THIRD SHOT? WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE?
Transplant recipients and other people with weakened immune systems may not have gotten enough protection from vaccines to begin with. They can now receive a third dose at least 28 days after their second shot as part of their initial series of shots needed for them to be fully vaccinated. For those with normal immune systems, boosters are given much later after full vaccination — not to establish protection, but to rev it up again.
WHAT QUESTIONS REMAIN?
Still unknown is whether people should get the same type of shot they got when first vaccinated. And the nation’s top health advisers will be looking for evidence about the safety of boosters and how well they protect against infection and severe disease.
Read:Why might COVID-19 vaccine boosters be necessary?
Global access to vaccines is also important to stem the pandemic and prevent the emergence of new variants. Booster shots could crimp already tight global vaccine supplies.
WHAT ABOUT THE UNVACCINATED?
Dr. Melanie Swift, who has been leading the vaccination program at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, says getting more shots into people who haven’t yet been vaccinated at all is “our best tool, not only to prevent hospitalization and mortality from the delta variant, but to stop transmission.” Every infection, she says, “gives the virus more chances to mutate into who knows what the next variant could be.”
“People who took the vaccine the first time are likely to line up and get their booster,” Swift says. “But it’s not going to achieve our goals overall if all their unvaccinated neighbors are not vaccinated.”
Death toll from Haiti’s weekend earthquake rises to 1,941
Haitian officials raised the death toll from a deadly weekend earthquake by more than 500 on Tuesday after Tropical Storm Grace forced a temporary halt to search and rescue efforts, a delay that fed growing anger and frustration among thousands who were left homeless.
Grace battered southwestern Haiti, which was hit hardest by Saturday’s quake, and officials warned some areas could get 15 inches (38 centimeters) of rain before the storm moved on. Intermittent rain fell in the earthquake-damaged city of Les Cayes and in the capital of Port-au-Prince.
Late Tuesday afternoon, the Civil Protection Agency raised the death toll to 1,941 and the number of injured to 9,900, many of whom have had to wait for medical help lying outside in wilting heat.
Read: Haiti quake death toll rises to 1,419, injured now at 6,000
The devastation is centered in the country’s southwestern area, where health care has reached capacity and people have lost homes and loved ones.
Patience was running out in the Western Hemisphere’s poorest nation. Haitians already were struggling with the coronavirus, gang violence, worsening poverty and the July 7 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse when the quake hit.
Bodies continued to be pulled from the rubble, and the smell of death hung heavily over a pancaked, three-story apartment building. A simple bed sheet covered the body of a 3-year-old girl that firefighters had found an hour earlier.
Neighbor Joseph Boyer, 53, said he knew the girl’s family.
“The mother and father are in the hospital, but all three kids died,” he said. The bodies of the other two siblings were found earlier.
Illustrating the lack of government presence, volunteer firefighters from the nearby city of Cap-Haitien had left the body out in the rain because police have to be present before a body can be taken away.
Another neighbor, James Luxama, 24, repeated a popular rumor at many disaster scenes, saying that someone was sending text messages for help from inside the rubble. But Luxama had not personally seen or received such a message.
A throng of angry, shouting men gathered in front of the collapsed building, a sign that patience was running out for people who have waited days for help from the government.
“The photographers come through, the press, but we have no tarps for our roofs,” said one man, who refused to give his name.
The head of Haiti’s office of civil protection, Jerry Chandler, acknowledged the situation. Earthquake assessments had to be paused because of the heavy rain, “and people are getting aggressive,” Chandler said Tuesday.
Some children were orphaned in the quake and some youngsters were starting to go hungry, said Carl-Henry Petit-Frère, a field manager for Save the Children, which said in a statement that it was distributing what it could to people living on the streets without protection from the wind and rain.
“I see children crying on the street, people asking us for food, but we are low on food ourselves as well,” Petit-Frère said, adding that children were warned not to go into houses because they could collapse. “The organizations that are here are doing what they can, but we need more supplies. Food, clean water and shelter are needed most, and we need them fast.”
About 20 soldiers finally showed up to help rescuers at the collapsed apartment building.
Prior to that, the only help that arrived was from poorly equipped volunteers.
“All we have are sledgehammers and hands. That’s the plan,” said Canadian volunteer Randy Lodder, director of the Adoration Christian School in Haiti.
Sarah Charles, assistant administrator for the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance, said its disaster response teams were forced to suspend operations as the storm arrived Monday, but members were back Tuesday to assess its impact and continue helping.
Read:What makes Haiti prone to devastating earthquakes
“We do not anticipate that the death toll related to this earthquake will be anywhere near the 2010 earthquake, where more than 200,000 people were killed,” Charles told reporters.
The scale of the damage also was not as severe as that earthquake, she said, adding: “That’s not what we’re seeing on the ground right now.”
In a statement, the U.S. military’s Southern Command said it was moving eight helicopters from Honduras to Haiti and that seven U.S. Coast Guard cutters were en route to support the USAID team. Two cutters already are there along with two Coast Guard helicopters and U.S. Navy P-8 Poseidon aircraft that are taking aerial images of earthquake devastated areas, the statement said.
The effort was being mounted “to provide the kind of emergency response that is necessary in a human tragedy and catastrophe like this,” U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters at the White House.
John Morrison, public information officer for the Fairfax Co. (Virginia) Urban Search and Rescue, said its team was still trying to find survivors. Two U.S. Coast Guard helicopters had ferried searchers to six stricken communities on Monday.
“The team reports that food, health care services, safe drinking water, hygiene and sanitation and shelter are all priority needs,” Morrison said. He added that rescuers had not seen any signs of people trapped alive in buildings.
U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters Tuesday that the organization had disbursed $8 million to its agencies so that they could get supplies they need immediately. He said the U.N. is “playing a leading role” supporting Haiti, but added that “the government has the primary responsibilities.”
“I think the lesson learned is always for better and improved coordination so as not to see the chaotic scenes that we had” in the aftermath of the country’s devastating 2010 earthquake, Dujarric said. “We sometimes see where countries are, with the best of intentions, sending aid that may not be needed. ... So, I think the lesson learned is always better and more improved coordination to avoid waste and to avoid redundancies.”
Rain and wind raised the threat of mudslides and flash flooding as Grace slowly passed over southwestern Haiti’s Tiburon Peninsula before heading toward Jamaica and southeastern Cuba. Forecasters said it could become a hurricane before hitting Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula.
Officials said the magnitude 7.2 earthquake destroyed more than 7,000 homes and damaged nearly 5,000, leaving about 30,000 families homeless. Hospitals, schools, offices and churches also were demolished or badly damaged.
In the village of Bonne Fin, a one-hour drive from from Les Cayes on dirt roads, the mountaintop Hospital Lumiere illustrated the anguish and complexity of Haiti’s medical crisis and dire need for outside help.
No one died or was injured at the hospital when the quake hit, but the operating rooms partially collapsed.
Through cracks in a wall, Dr. Frantz Codio could see three glistening anesthesia machines he needed to perform orthopedic operations on broken bones. But he could not get to them because the building’s cement roof was leaning at a crazy angle — in some places just 3 or 4 feet (0.9 meters to 1.2 meters) above the floor.
Despite warnings not to go inside the structure, Codio did so on Sunday and pulled one of the machines out.
“People said, ‘Don’t go in there, it’s too dangerous,’ but I had God with me,” Codio said.
Read: Death toll of powerful earthquake in Haiti soars to 1,297
Etzer Emile, a Haitian economist and professor at Quisqueya University, a private institution in Port-au-Prince, said the earthquake will almost certainly result in more long-term poverty for Haiti’s struggling southwestern region.
Political instability and gang criminality along the southern roads into the region have particularly hobbled economic activity in recent years.
“The earthquake has just given a fatal blow to a regional economy already on its knees for about 2 1/2 years,” Emile said.
Sylhet div logs 17 deaths in single day
Sylhet division has logged 17 new Covid-related deaths in 24 hours till Tuesday morning, as the ruthless Delta variant of coronavirus continues its spread across the country.
Of the total deaths, 11 were reported in Sylhet district alone, said Dr Himangshu Lal Roy, director (health) of Sylhet.
Read: Covid claims 13 more lives in Sylhet
During this period, some 357 people were found positive for Covid after testing 1,476 samples.
The positivity rate currently stands at 24.19%.
With the fresh figures, the total fatalities and cases in the division now stand at 919 and 49,628, respectively.
Moreover, 37,795 people have recovered to date.
Read:Gasping for breath Sylhet woman dies in ambulance after futile search for an ICU bed
Besides, 35 people have been admitted to the corona unit of Sylhet Osmani Medical College and Hospital in the past 24 hours.
Currently, 534 Covid patients are undergoing treatment at different hospitals in Sylhet division.
Global Covid cases near 208 million
The global Covid-19 caseload is now nearing the grim milestone of 208 million, as the highly contagious Delta variant continues to devastate several countries even with mass inoculations underway.
The total caseload and fatalities from the virus stood at 207,824,763 and 4,370,906 respectively, as of Tuesday morning, according to Johns Hopkins University (JHU).
So far, 4,704,997,138 Covid vaccine doses have been administered across the globe, as per the university data.
Read:Children account for 15% of new Covid cases in US
The US has logged 36,886,005 cases and 622,306 deaths to date, according to the JHU data. The death toll in the United States is the highest in the world.
Children made up 15% of the reported weekly Covid-19 cases in the US for the week ending August 5, according to a recent report by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).
Amid a surge of infections driven by the highly contagious Delta variant in the country, almost 94,000 Covid-19 cases among children were reported the past week, "a continuing substantial increase", said the AAP in the report updated on August 9.
Brazil registered 434 more Covid-19 deaths in the past 24 hours, raising its national death toll to 569,492, the health ministry said on Monday.
The ministry said that the total caseload rose to 20,378,570 after 14,471 new cases were detected.
Brazil currently has the world's second-highest pandemic death toll after the United States, and the third-largest caseload after the United States and India.
India's Covid-19 tally rose to 32,225,513 on Monday as some 32,937 new cases were registered in 24 hours across the country, as per the federal health ministry data.
Read:Thailand to start trials of homegrown Covid-19 vaccine in September
Besides, as many as 417 deaths were reported due to the pandemic since Sunday morning, taking the total death toll to 431,642.
Situation in Bangladesh
Bangladesh added 174 fatalities to its national tally on Monday, as Covid cases and deaths continue to fall for the fourth straight day.
The country is now reporting 9,315 new cases on an average each day – 64% of the peak. The highest daily average was reported on August 3.
Bangladesh recorded 6,959 new cases Monday after testing 33,015 samples, down from 11,463 logged a week earlier on August 9.
In 24 hours till Monday morning, the percentage of coronavirus tests coming back positive stood at 21.08%.
However, the recovery rate rose to 91.31%, and the case fatality increased to 1.71% compared to the same period.
The country has been experiencing a surge of Covid-related caseload and deaths since June 2021.
Vaccine co-production
Bangladesh, China and Incepta Pharmaceutical Ltd on Monday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the co-production of Sinopharm vaccine in Bangladesh.
Read:China doesn’t attach any political strings to vaccine cooperation: Envoy
Health Minister Zahid Maleque and Abdul Muktadir, Chairman of Incepta Vaccine Limited signed the MoU from Dhaka while Li Can, President of China Sinopharm International Corporation and Zhu Jingjin, Vice President, China National Biotec Group Company Limited signed it from Beijing.
China has provided 2.1 million doses of the Sinopharm vaccine as a gift to Bangladesh, 3.4 million doses under the COVAX facility, and 8 million doses as part of a large-scale commercial purchase agreement.
Admission delayed, admission denied?
The ferocious second wave of the pandemic has further disrupted the higher education landscape across the world. And Bangladesh is no exception.
Here too, Covid-19 has exacerbated uncertainty for over a million-plus students preparing for admission tests to get into colleges and universities, with most of them deferred to curb the spread of the virus.
The uncertainty has left these admission seekers scrambling to figure out what else they might consider in case they fail to bag a seat in the university of their choice.
Read:DU to hold UG admission test from Oct 1, affiliated college test from Oct 29
The most sought-after Dhaka University, for instance, has deferred the admission test for all its undergraduate courses for the third time this academic year, citing the worsening Covid-19 situation in the country.
The other leading academic institutions -- Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), Chittagong University, Jahangirnagar University, Rajshahi University, and the three public technical universities (CUET-RUET-KUET) -- have all put on hold the admission tests.
Forget the admission tests, a number of the 49 public universities in Bangladesh has not been able to conduct internal examinations since the pandemic broke out, resulting in sessions jam.
Read JU admission seekers can pay application fees through bKash
In fact, in the year 2020, a total of 13,67,377 students successfully completed the Higher Secondary School Certificate (HSC) or equivalent examinations, and by now they were supposed to complete six months of university education.
This uncertainty over university admissions and the consequent anxiety have taken a toll on the mental health of many students and made some of them more vulnerable to drug use, UNB has learnt.
Female students in the rural areas of Bangladesh are the worst hit, with many of their parents losing their life savings during the pandemic. Many such parents have been forced to marry off their daughters at an early age in the past one year -- dashing their dreams of a higher education.
Read HC turns down writ seeking cancellation of MBBS admission test results
“I had a dream, a dream to complete my graduation. But the academic sessions jam and the pandemic changed my life forever," Saifa Nasrin, one such sufferer, told UNB over the phone from rural Bangladesh.
Last month, Saifa's parents married her off to reduce the financial burden on the family. "My husband has made it clear to me that he's not in favour of my higher studies."
Of the 49 public universities, 30 are supposed to conduct admission tests for undergraduate programmes.
Read: HC questions exclusion of SSC-2016 passed students from admission test
Some 20 of these universities -- barring the top five -- have decided to implement a cluster admission test system. Seven agriculture and three technical universities will also follow the same cluster system.
Bangladesh also has 107 private varsities and about 2,254 colleges affiliated to National University.
Moreover, these 20 public universities -- excluding Dhaka University, BUET, Rajshahi University, Jahangirnagar University and Chittagong University -- are said to have received a total of 3,81,406 applications for 2020-21 UG admission tests.
Read DU admission tests rescheduled amid pandemic
Covid claims 21 more deaths in Sylhet
Sylhet division has logged 21 new Covid-related deaths in 24 hours till Thursday morning, as the ruthless Delta variant of coronavirus continues its spread across the country.
Read: Sylhet div logs 22 deaths in single day
Of the total deaths, 19 were reported in Sylhet district alone, said Dr Himangshu Lal Roy, director (health) of Sylhet.
According to the authorities, 567 new infections were detected in the division during the period. With the fresh figures, the total fatalities and cases in the division now stand at 865 and 47,578, respectively.
Read: Mass Vaccination Drive: Impressive numbers get jabbed in Chandpur, Sylhet city
Besides, 36 people have been admitted to the corona unit of Sylhet Osmani Medical College and Hospital in the past 24 hours.
Rajshahi sees 9 more Covid deaths in 24 hrs
Nine more people have died of Covid-19 and related complications at Rajshahi Medical College and Hospital (RMCH) in the past 24 hours, health officials said on Thursday.
Five of them died of Covid-19, while three had symptoms of the virus and the remaining one succumbed to post-corona complications, said hospital director Brigadier General Shamim Yazdani.
Read:21 more die of Covid at Rajshahi hospital
Of the deceased, two each were from Natore and Pabna, and one each from Rajshahi, Naogaon, Chapainawabganj and Kushtia districts.
Besides, 37 people have been admitted to the corona unit of the hospital in the past 24 hours. On the other hand, some 49 people were discharged from the hospital after recovery during the period.
Currently, 342 patients are undergoing treatment at the hospital which has 513 beds. Of them, 20 are being treated in the ICU, said the hospital director.
Read:Covid: 10 more people die in Rajshahi
Of the admitted patients, 180 have tested positive for Covid-19, while 97 are with symptoms and 65 have post-Covid health complications.
Tokyo’s Olympic fears give way to acceptance, to a point
When the Tokyo Olympics began during a worsening pandemic in Japan, the majority of the host nation was in opposition, with Emperor Naruhito dropping the word “celebrating” from his opening declaration of welcome.
But once the Games got underway and local media switched to covering Japanese athletes’ “medal rush,” many Japanese were won over. They watched TV to cheer on Japanese athletes in an Olympics that ended Sunday with a record 58 medals for the home nation, including 27 gold.
There are still worries that Japan will pay a price for hosting these Games; recent days have seen record numbers of virus cases. But for now, among many, a sense of pride and goodwill is lingering.
“Having the games in the middle of the pandemic didn’t seem like a good idea, and I did wonder if they should be canceled,” said Keisuke Uchisawa, 27, an office worker. But the medal haul, he said, was “very exciting and stimulating. Once the Games started, we naturally cheered the athletes and simply enjoyed watching them.”
Read: Olympic photos from far above and underwater
His wife Yuki, a medical worker, worried especially about the pandemic. But she began cheering when she noticed patients at her hospital beaming as they watched the Games. “I saw the power of sports, and I thought it was wonderful,” she said. “Athletes made outstanding performances, and we wanted to cheer for them.”
The couple were recently picking out matching Olympics shirts and pandemic masks from an official goods store in downtown Tokyo. The store, almost empty before the Games, was crowded on a recent weekday toward the end of the Olympics. Many customers appeared to be workers from the neighborhood dropping by during lunch breaks.
Beforehand, a lot of Japanese expressed reluctance or opposition to holding the Olympics during a pandemic that, for them, was worsening. A series of resignations of Olympic-linked officials over sexism, past bullying and Holocaust jokes also hurt the Games’ image ahead of the July 23 opening. There were protests on Tokyo streets and on social media.
After the opening ceremony, however, many opponents started to cheer.
More than half of Japan’s population watched the event, according to rating company Video Research — the highest rating for an Olympic opening ceremony in Japan since 61% for the 1964 Tokyo games, a time when far fewer people had televisions.
Outside the National Stadium, where dozens of demonstrators regularly held anti-Olympic rallies, many fans stood in a line next to the Olympic rings waiting to take selfies. It was the closest they could get to locked-down, spectator-free stadiums.
Opposition to the Olympics has steadily dropped in recent weeks. One poll taken by the Asahi newspaper just ahead of the Olympics showed opponents fell to 55% from around 70% earlier this year, and 56% of the respondents said they wanted to watch the Games on TV. And separate surveys taken by the Yomiuri newspaper and TBS Television at the end of the Games showed more than 60% of their respective respondents said it had been good to hold the Games.
Those who felt intimidated by the unwelcome mood in the beginning began to feel relieved.
“It was a bit scary to get on a train wearing an Olympic volunteer uniform” early on, when people were still more strongly opposing the Games, said Asuka Takahashi, a 21-year-old student who helped at the beach volleyball venue. She felt less tension after the Games started, and thought more people were interested in them than she had initially believed.
Read: Over 450 Covid cases confirmed during Tokyo Olympics
And when Takahashi recently visited Olympics stores, she also saw that lots of merchandise was sold out. “Many Japanese,” she said, “are enjoying the Olympics in the end.”
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, criticized for insisting on hosting the Olympics despite the virus, was likely hoping for this evolution in sentiment. He has been trying to reverse nosediving support ratings for his government ahead of general elections expected in the autumn.
“Japanese Olympians’ outstanding achievements will give us strength, too,” said Tateo Kawamura, a veteran lawmaker of Suga’s governing party. Suga called and congratulated judoka Naohisa Takato, who won the first gold for Japan, and has since publicly congratulated medal winners on Twitter.
Suga has repeatedly said there is no evidence linking the upsurge in cases to the Games — and, in fact, barely more than 400 positive cases were reported inside the Olympic “bubble” from early July until the closing ceremony.
But whether the Games lift public sentiment in a lasting way could hinge on how the virus plays out.
“The government has forced the holding of the Olympics and Paralympics in order to regain popularity ... but it’s a risky gamble,” Seigo Hirowatari, a University of Tokyo law professor emeritus, said during a recent online event.
While some have tried to see the positive side of the Olympics, others remain opposed. There’s a new word floating around to describe what some see as a growing pressure to support or even to talk about the Games: “Oly-hara” or Olympic harassment.
Medical experts have raised alarms as virus infections accelerate in Tokyo; daily cases surged to new highs during the Olympics. On Aug. 5, Tokyo logged 5,042 cases, an all-time high since the pandemic began early last year. Experts say the ongoing infections propelled by the more contagious delta variant could send the daily case load above 10,000 within two weeks. Nationwide, total cases exceeded 1 million, with more than 15,300 deaths.
Last week, Japan’s government introduced a contentious new policy in which coronavirus patients with moderate symptoms will isolate at home as the surge of cases strain hospitals. That policy was needed, the government said, in spite of an expansion of the state of emergency from Tokyo to wider areas that will last until the end of August.
Read: Mixed bag: Erratic Pandemic Olympics come to a nuanced end
“If you turn on the TV, there is nothing else but the Olympic Games, and people are not sharing in a sense of crisis” about the exploding infections amid the festivity, said Dr. Jin Kuramochi, a respiratory medicine expert. “People will see the reality after the closing ceremony.”
Those who opposed the Games say the money should have been spent on health care and economic support for pandemic-hit people and businesses. The $15.4 billion cost of the Games — largely shouldered by Japanese citizens’ tax money — has caused concerns.
That leads to sentiments like the one from Yoko Kudo, a preschool teacher.
“I hope” she said, “at least the rest of the world will thank Japan for achieving the Games despite the difficulties.”
Sense of normalcy in Dhaka as snarls return
Life is returning to normal in national capital Dhaka, with the Bangladeshi government easing the Covid lockdown curbs from Wednesday.
Almost all factories, offices, shopping malls and standalone outlets reopened in Dhaka this morning, strictly adhering to all Covid-safety protocols.
Read: Lockdown breaches: 198 arrested in Dhaka on the last day
Public transport services also resumed operations in the morning. Several city buses were seen plying on a number of busy stretches and ferrying passengers with 50 percent of their seating capacity.
Such was the morning rush that several areas of the city witnessed traffic snarls, giving commuters a harrowing time on the roads. However, the inter-district buses entering or exiting the city were fewer than pre-Covid days.
Besides, train and launch services also resumed services across the country, keeping 50 percent of the seats empty.
Abu Raihan Mohammad Saleh, joint commissioner (traffic north) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, said, “Traffic jams in some areas were due to the rise in the number of vehicles on the roads."
Commuters experienced snarls between 8 am and 10.30 am in different areas of the city -- Technical point, Mirpur, Shyamoli, Asadgate, Banani, Amtoli and Mohakhali intersection to name a few, Abu added.
Will we need vaccine passports to do fun things?
Ready to go out on the town before summer ends? In parts of the U.S., you might have to carry your COVID-19 vaccine card or a digital copy to get into restaurants, bars, nightclubs and outdoor music festivals.
After resisting the divisive concept of vaccine passports through most of the pandemic, a fast-growing number of private venues and some local officials are now requiring proof of immunization in public settings to reduce the spread of the highly transmissible delta variant of the coronavirus — and to assuage wary customers.
It’s unlikely the U.S. will adopt a national mandate like the one in France, which on Monday began requiring people to show a QR code proving they have a special virus pass before they can enjoy restaurants and cafes or travel across the country.
Read: COVID vaccines to be required for military under new US plan
But enough venues are starting to ask for digital passes to worry some privacy advocates, who fear the trend could habituate consumers to constant tracking.
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WHO’S ASKING FOR VACCINE PASSPORTS?
New York City set the tone last week when Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that the city will soon require proof of COVID-19 vaccination for anyone who wants to dine indoors at a restaurant, see a performance or go to the gym.
But a growing number of private venues, from Broadway theaters to music clubs in Minneapolis and Milwaukee, have established their own similar rules for patrons.
“I’m a firm believer in the right for people to choose whether or not they get the vaccine,” said Tami Montgomery, owner of Dru’s Bar in Memphis, Tennessee, which will start asking for paper vaccine cards along with photo identification on Thursday. “But it’s my business and I have to make decisions based on what will protect my staff, business and customers.”
Organizers of the Lollapalooza music festival in Chicago said on its opening day in late July that more than 90% of some 100,000 attendees presented proof of a vaccination, while most of the rest showed they’d recently had a negative COVID-19 test. Hundreds of others were turned away for lack of paperwork.
Only in a handful of states — Texas and Florida are the biggest — are private businesses prohibited from requiring proof of vaccination.
HOW DO THEY WORK?
In some places, venues are simply asking you to bring your vaccination card — the same piece of paper you get from health providers and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Taking a picture of that card at home and then showing the image to the bouncer at the club can also work.
New York City offers a streamlined way of showing a photo through its NYC COVID Safe App, in which people can store images of their vaccine cards and then display them in the app when needed.
Other places are encouraging people to register their credentials using a scannable digital pass like New York’s statewide Excelsior Pass or similar systems adopted by California, Hawaii and Louisiana and private companies like Walmart and the airport security app Clear. Some of the state-sponsored digital passes verify a person’s vaccine credentials through a state or local immunization registry.
Read: Canada begins allowing vaccinated US citizens to visit again
Such passes are designed for convenience and to prevent fraud. But that’s also where the biggest privacy concerns emerge, said Adam Schwartz, senior staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
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WHAT’S WRONG WITH QR CODES?
The barcode known as a QR code was originally designed to help track products in a factory. These days, it’s increasingly being used to track people’s devices.
“Those systems are a giant leap towards tracking people’s location,” Schwartz said. “There’s a very real risk of mission creep once there are scanners at doors and people are showing their scannable token to pass through.”
But the coalition that helped create the Smart Health Card framework used by New York, California and the Canadian province of Quebec say they’ve already set privacy safeguards to guard against misuse of health data.
So long as a venue is using a VCI-compliant scanner, there shouldn’t be anything to worry about, said Dr. Brian Anderson, chief digital health physician at MITRE and co-lead of the Vaccination Credential Initiative, which counts Apple, Microsoft and the Mayo Clinic among its members. “That app won’t store an individual’s data beyond the time that the QR code is scanned,” he said.
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WHY NOT STICK WITH PAPER?
Proponents of digital passports say they’re more convenient for already-overwhelmed restaurants and other venues because workers don’t have to peer at everyone’s vaccine cards before letting them in. Lines move faster, and the digital scan reassures those who don’t want to risk damaging or losing their paper cards. It’s also easy to fake a paper card or a photo of one.
The startup CrowdPass, which generates QR codes so vaccinated people can attend events, said it helped get about 15,000 people swiftly admitted into the recent Newport Folk and Newport Jazz festivals in Rhode Island. The events required attendees to digitally upload proof of full vaccination or a recent negative test.
Demand was slow at first, said Duncan Abdelnour, the startup’s co-founder and president. “But since the delta variant has sprung, we’ve had a huge uptick.” Among its clients are couples planning weddings and organizers of other small events. Abdelnour said the biggest spike in calls came after New York City’s announcement.
Read: Saudi Arabia opens Umrah pilgrimage to vaccinated worshipers from abroad
It’s a crowded market that includes apps made by Clear and Walmart, many of which have now signed onto the VCI’s privacy standards and code of conduct.
But for Schwartz, of the EFF, the best advice for venues that need to see proof of vaccination is to stick to asking for the CDC card or a photo of it.
The process of making vaccination checks should end when the pandemic does, Schwartz said. “Some of the companies that are in this space have a track record of being in the business of monetizing data,” he added. “I’m not going to name names, but they’re the last people that should be involved in developing scanners for proof of vaccination.”