Despite the Concerns, Arizona Bans Vaccine Passports for Government

Governor of Arizona, Doug Ducey has restricted the local and state government agencies from asking for proof of vaccination to avail of any service or enter a public space.

This order has been passed for any business with a government contract and bans them from requiring their customers to confirm their vaccination status. Customers can no longer be kept from receiving any government services depending on if they have been vaccinated or not. 

Although hospitals, nursing homes, and other health-related facilities are exempted from the no vaccination passport requirement, they are still allowed to ask for the patient’s, employee’s, and visitor’s vaccination status. The exemption also includes universities, child care centres, and schools. Private businesses are also not required to comply with these orders. 

“The residents of our state should not be required by the government to share their private medical information,” said Governor Ducey in a press release about the executive order. “While we strongly recommend all Arizonans get the COVID-19 vaccine, it’s not mandated in our state — and it never will be. Vaccination is up to each individual, not the government.”

Dr Cara Christ, Arizona Department of Health Services Director, expressed her untruthfulness regarding the vaccine passports. She said she might be fine with sharing her vaccine status information but people might want to keep the information private. 

Many nations have imposed travel restrictions that require the passenger to provide their negative COVID test before onboarding the plane. Israel has already issued a digital Green Pass to people who got their vaccine shots. This digital green pass is used by people to enter hotels or even cinemas. New York State is one of the first states in the USA to issue a health pass that requires proof of vaccination before entering the public facility.

Despite these measures by the government, the concerns still remain. The proof of vaccination initiative was started to minimize the exposure of people to minimize the spread of the disease. The government may not support the idea but private businesses, that have suffered enough due to the lockdown, are still seeking vaccine passport for safe business practices. Although the government’s concerns are legit about data privacy, service providers offering solutions for vaccine passport authentication also assist the businesses to ensures data security for the customers.