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Sunday, May 24, 2020

Scholarly Article (May 2020) - COVID-19 immunity passports and vaccination certificates: scientific, equitable, and legal challenges

Title:
COVID-19 immunity passports and vaccination certificates: scientific, equitable, and legal challenges

Author:
Alexandra L. Phelan

Published:
Lancet, Volume 395, Issue 10237, pp. 1595-1598 (May 2020)
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)31034-5/fulltext

From the abstract:
"Many governments are looking for paths out of restrictive physical distancing measures imposed to control the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). With a potential vaccine against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) many months away,1 one proposal that some governments have suggested, including Chile, Germany, Italy, the UK, and the USA,2 is the use of immunity passports—ie, digital or physical documents that certify an individual has been infected and is purportedly immune to SARS-CoV-2. Individuals in possession of an immunity passport could be exempt from physical restrictions and could return to work, school, and daily life. However, immunity passports pose considerable scientific, practical, equitable, and legal challenges."