Passport or smart tool? New app accesses COVID vaccine records (Opinion)

While some will call this the dreaded 'vaccine passport' many fear, others will say it just makes proving you were vaccinated against COVID-19 easier.

It's a new app. It's called Docket. It's available through Google or Apple Play app stores. Governor Murphy talked about it at his press briefing Monday.

What it does is it allows you to access your COVID vaccination record. To see your records in the app you need to have received your vaccine in New Jersey and need to have your email or phone number on file with the Department of Health's immunization system.

That way if you lose your little cardboard card or just don't want to carry it to places that may require it for entry, such as Springsteen on Broadway for example, it's right there in your phone.

Now this part is important. This is able to show you your vaccination record just by putting in your email or phone number, name, birth date and gender. It accesses it for you. I tried it on my phone and sure enough, BAM, there it was. March 8, 2021 and all the info about the Johnson & Johnson shot I received.

You can argue this is handy as hell, which is my take. Or you can argue like some Republicans that this is a vaccine passport or the road to one. Gov. Murphy stresses it is no such thing.

“To be absolutely clear, this is not a passport,” Murphy said. “Docket is intended solely to give residents easy access to their COVID vaccination record, especially if their vaccination card has been damaged or lost.”

The state Republican Party put out a statement concerning this saying, "An app that stores our vaccination records? Sounds like a passport to us."

Republican State Sen. Michael Testa had a more moderate tone in saying, "We need to be vigilant to ensure this app doesn’t suddenly morph into a vaccine passport that people are forced to display everywhere they go.”

What do you think? Is this app a valuable tool when sporting events, concerts and other places will be requiring proof of vaccination for entry? Or is this already a passport? The government is not requiring you to get the vaccine nor are they requiring you to get this app. Take our poll below.

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Jeff Deminski. Any opinions expressed are Jeff Deminski's own.