Digitized vaccination passports are here in New Jersey (Opinion)

As more retail and commercial offices are now requiring proof of vaccination, New Jersey has begun thinking of ways to make giving proof easy.

While the idea of creating some sort of vaccination “passport” has surfaced, digital systems have also been introduced. While carrying proof of vaccination may not seem important in the grocery or clothing store, it is definitely going to be valuable for travelers.

Many countries and even cruise lines are hesitant to allow non-vaccinated guests, and want to find a way to make showing proof easy. But on the other hand, like E-ZPass, a digitized Covid vaccination card makes it more difficult for those people who are unvaccinated to navigate.

I remember when I didn’t have E-ZPass. I remember looking longingly at the cars that would speed through the easy pass lanes and think how unfair it was that I still had to wait in a line and dig around my car for money. The ease with which you could navigate the highways was too much to bear.

That’s the idea behind a digitized vaccination card: To make you feel like you’re missing out on something by not being vaccinated. To make you feel like you must jump on the bandwagon the same way we all quickly saw the benefits of getting E-ZPass. Also, and most importantly, to make you feel like it’s more convenient to just be vaccinated than not.

This is the vaccine passport that we’ve all been hearing about and that many of us have been dreading. And it’s already in use by some health systems in New Jersey.

One huge healthcare system, which has distributed half a million vaccinations thus far, recently began developing these digital vaccine cards using an app called “Health Pass.” The app acts as a vaccine passport, and has the ability to securely link your own vaccination to your device. This kind of app acts similarly to the wallet app on the iPhone, in a way that not just anyone can access your vaccination card.

Overall, for those who plan on traveling and attending concerts in the near future, the digitalization of vaccination is going to make it impossible or nearly impossible not to have this card and make it extremely difficult not to have been vaccinated.

As the months go on I am sure plenty of more technology like this will arise and before we know it, we will be slowly divided into two classes. The high class, a.k.a. the vaccinated. And the unwashed, a.k.a. the non-vaccinated. And digitizing the passport, the evidence of either is going to make that distinction much more clear to the general public.

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Judi Franco. Any opinions expressed are Judi Franco’s own.