Fake vaccine passports may slow Covid-19 progress

Photo courtesy of Lukas, Unsplash

As the number of distributed vaccine doses increase each day, the possibility of requiring “vaccine passports” grows higher. With this comes “fake vaccine passports”—think fake IDs, but falsified proof of your COVID vaccination. 

The wave of anti-vaxxers who are unwilling to get the COVID vaccine is concerning. The more people who get fully vaccinated, the closer we are to herd immunity and normalcy. Online, anti-vaxxers are spreading the idea of selling “fake vaccine passports.” This way, they do not need to actually receive the vaccine while enjoying the rewards. 

There are many people who have compared these “vaccine passports” to the yellow stars that Jewish people were forced to wear at all times during the Holocaust. As a person of Jewish heritage, I find this extreme idea tremendously ignorant and disgusting. Being told you must be vaccinated to get on an airplane is not the same as Jewish people being forced to wear a star that led them to a deadly concentration camp. To compare the two things is, in the simplest terms, just plain stupid and irrational.

If someone chooses to not get their vaccination, they have the freedom to do so. However, they should be able to understand that lack of compliance means that they may not be able to do the same things that vaccinated people do.

There is a possibility that sooner or later, people will need to show proof of their vaccination to board an airplane, go on vacation and even travel nationally or internationally. I personally believe that this is fair. People on an airplane that are vaccinated deserve to feel safe, and these freedoms are one of the main benefits of receiving the COVID vaccine. Not getting COVID, at all or as bad as you could have without the vaccine, is also a clear benefit.

The possibility of people selling these false “vaccine passports” is honestly scary. To think that people are so willing to put others at risk by pretending to be vaccinated is truly awful. 

I have heard people say that schools (mostly colleges and universities) are not allowed to require students to be vaccinated. I do not agree with this; not only are students at almost every school (pre-school, elementary, middle school, high school and colleges) required to show proof of vaccinations, but I believe that schools should require the COVID vaccine in order for them to return to in-person learning without the fear of COVID outbreaks. 

I know that I had to show proof of my vaccinations before I registered for my first classes here at Ramapo, and universities should not need to worry about outbreaks of viruses and diseases on their campuses when students have the chance to vaccinate and stop this spread. 

I truly hope people can understand why the government wants to possibly implement “vaccine passports” and vaccinate themselves. This would not be an invasion of privacy, this is just used to prove that you are safe to travel and have been fully vaccinated.

I also hope that people do not sell and produce fake “vaccine passports,” but if this is done, law enforcement should take action to stop this production and help keep our country safe.