Vaccine passes are a vital weapon against Covid

Little by little, more countries are moving towards making Covid vaccines mandatory. Austria is doing so from February; Germany’s Bundestag is set to vote on whether to do likewise. US president Joe Biden wants inoculations to be obligatory for healthcare workers, but courts are blocking that for now. Except in such frontline professions, it should not be governments’ place to decree that citizens undergo what amounts to a medical procedure. But with the risky-looking Omicron variant spreading fast and vaccines available for almost a year now, governments are justified in encouraging take-up — by demanding much more widespread use of vaccine passports.

Digital passes proving the holder is vaccinated or has Covid immunity after an infection should be seen as part of a suite of steps that might yet avoid the most economically damaging option: further prolonged lockdowns. Even with Omicron, thought to be even more contagious than the Delta strain, experts say containment measures should meaningfully slow the spread.

Making mask-wearing compulsory in public places and on transport, for example, is simple good sense with an airborne virus. It imposes limited inconvenience for most people — though medical exemptions should be available and consideration given to the special needs of the deaf. Social distancing, working from home when transmission rates demand it and limits on size of gatherings all make sense.

Vaccines allowed developed countries to make big steps towards a return to normality this year, but have not been enough to end the pandemic. The immunity they confer, it is now clear, wanes over some months. Existing versions are already being challenged by the Delta variant and, experts say, are likely to be less effective against the Omicron strain. But scientists and pharma bosses say people with two jabs, and especially those who have had a booster, are still likely to enjoy good protection against serious illness and death caused even by Omicron.

Health authorities are right, then, to step up vaccination and booster programmes even with existing jabs — and to do all they can to coax people into taking them. Requiring vaccine passes to enter any public environment where people gather for social or entertainment purposes reduces the likelihood of highly infectious individuals being present, and ensures everyone has some protection. Medical exemptions should be available, with production of a negative test result as an alternative — but these should be carefully policed to guard against abuses of the system.

Several countries have used vaccine passes as tools of persuasion. France and Italy introduced mandatory passes for entertainment venues, restaurants and long-distance trains — and Italy for the workplace. Germany will soon allow only those who have been jabbed or have acquired immunity to enter shops and cultural institutions. Experience has shown such approaches can encourage the hesitant, though are less effective against determined vaccine refuseniks. They are less likely, however, than government-demanded compulsory vaccinations to provoke a widespread backlash.

“No jab” should not mean “no job”— indeed, trying to impose such a rule may fall foul of employment and anti-discrimination laws in many countries. But employers have a right, too — as many are doing — to ask for vaccine passes in the workplace, with exemptions and special arrangements as needed. Some will rail against such suggestions as infringements of liberties. But, two years after coronavirus emerged, a touch of paternalism is warranted if it can ward off new home confinements — and help, finally, to bring the pandemic to heel.