Pros

Vaccine passport is not for restricting people’s movement who haven't been vaccinated, but to ensure the movement of people who have been vaccinated / recovered from COVID-19 / got a negative result on COVID-19 tests. Vaccine passports could efficiently block the spread of the epidemic, affect creating an atmosphere of a society that encourages vaccination, and vitalizing tour industries by ensuring free movement.

1 The Best Way that Can Block The Spread of Epidemics

By allowing the proven person to travel, we could prevent the spread of the epidemics when traveling or using a multi-use facility. Vaccine passports are used not as a means to encourage movement, but as a means of ensuring safety in quarantine when transported. Even if there is a 2 weeks self-isolation system, vaccination verification is “relatively” more suitable for public safety. Certain epidemic prevention can be assured by restricting the person who has the possibility of infection.

2 Can Make Social Atmosphere about Voluntary Vaccination

Vaccination is a responsibility rather than a recommendation for those who can be vaccinated. Public health is put before individuals’ freedom and right in view of social maintenance and preservation. To give a kind of benefit to people who have been vaccinated with risk isn’t unfair. However, some say that vaccine passport is reverse discrimination to people who can not be vaccinated (pregnant women, elderly people, etc.), but since they are vulnerable to viruses, the suppression helps them to be protected from the risk of infection.

Therefore, vaccine passports are not unreasonable suppression or enforcement, but a contribution to public health.

3 Economic Revitalization by Ensuring Free Movement

The revitalization of the tourism industry through vaccine passports could boost the global economy. Tourism is a key industry that accounts for 10% of the EU's total GDP, with 12% of the EU's total economically active population engaged in tourism. In particular, even within the EU, the four "PIGS (Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain)" countries that suffered from the 2010 financial crisis are more desperate. These countries are highly dependent on the tourism industry and have weak finances, with the national debt ratio reaching 100-170% to GDP. In these countries, there is a sense of crisis that if the blockade continues until after summer this year, the national economy could collapse due to soaring unemployment and falling tax revenues. Due to the issue of the survival of these countries right now, these countries are preparing to open their borders aggressively, and vaccine passports can give legitimacy in the process.

In Korea, the extent of damage to the entire tourism industry was about 16.6 trillion won in 2020. The number of foreign tourists who have visited Korea declined from 10 to 2.5 million -24.3% of 2019- and sightseeing revenue decreases are about to 20 trillion. It is important to guarantee the right to live for those who have been endangered by the economic crisis caused by COVID-19.

Cons

WHO and countries such as France are being contradictory about vaccination passports. Meanwhile, countries such as Greece, Spain, and Italy, where tourism is the main source of income, are actively introducing vaccination passports and even some have already popularized it. However, Michael Ryan, head of the (World Health Organization)WHO's emergency response team, pointed out that the introduction of Covid-19 vaccine passports should not be used for international travel in terms of ethical and practical understanding since vaccinations are not done enough and being done fairly. “We as WHO are saying at this stage we would not like to see the vaccination passport as a requirement for entry or exit because we are not certain at this stage that the vaccine prevents transmission,” said WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris. “There are all those other questions, apart from the question of discrimination against the people who are not able to have the vaccine for one reason or another,” she told a U.N. news briefing.

1 There is no guarantee of quarantine safety

Currently, commercially available vaccines have received Emergency-use Authorization, which is distinct from the full regulation application. Authorization here refers to the proof that vaccinators would not be infected with pathogens. Full regulation evaluation requires longer observation and research.

Also, according to the International Journal of Cardiothoracic Oncology, a vaccinated individual and an individual who have caught Covid-19 commonly develop antibodies called immunoglobulin-G, which suppresses the mass proliferation of the Covid-19 virus. However, the problem is that vaccinated individual does not develop immunoglobulin-A (which prevents viral infection on the surface of the mucous membrane such as the nose and throat), whereas recovered individual develops it. Therefore, even if vaccinated, the virus can still multiply in mucous membranes such as the mouth, nasal cavity, and pharynx. In other words, vaccination for COVID-19 does not fully provide immunity.

Moreover, data from the Oxford-AstraZeneca and Moderna studies suggest potentially a reduction in transmission but not elimination in transmission. A person can be vaccinated and not suffer severe disease burden if they become ill—in fact, they might be completely asymptomatic—but they may still spread the virus to other people.

2 Ambiguity in setting criteria and Validity for vaccine passports

Since vaccination is in its early stages, it is unknown how long the vaccine's immunity will last, and the immune effect varies depending on the type of vaccine. The head of the WHO's emergency response team said that "The WHO doesn't know how long the vaccination immunity of the currently approved vaccine lasts, and relevant data is still being collected".

Moreover, factors that can affect the persistence of immunity vary from age to underlying disease. Besides, each country has different vaccination times and different types of vaccines. Kim Woo- Joo, a professor of infectious internal medicine at Korea University Guro Hospital said "There are already internationally recognized vaccination certificates in yellow fever. However, the Covid-19 vaccine will be difficult to use as a passport because each product has a different preventive effect." Therefore it would be difficult to create common standards, such as the validity of vaccine passports. Hence, experts agree that it would be too early to use the Covid-19 vaccination certificate as a passport.

3 Worsens inequities and mistrust of health officials, and Violates the freedom of movement

Given that there could be a problem of discrimination and inequities against people who cannot be vaccinated or citizens not willing to get vaccinated, the introduction of a Vaccine passport should be cautious. Reopening services only to those who've been vaccinated against covid-19 could worsen inequities and mistrust of health officials, says a leading expert.

1)Domestic level

"The government's push to expand vaccine passports to living and public facilities violates its promise to respect individual self-determination rights," "It is only a means to force members of society to be inoculated so as not to be discriminated," said Kim Jae-Cheon, a member of the Health World Network. In fact, in February, a protest was held in Israel, saying that regulations that allow entry to restaurants and cafes only with a certificate of inoculation "Green Pass" divided society into two classes and discriminated against unvaccinated people. Some are also concerned that minorities, pregnant women, young people who are not vaccinated, and older people who are not familiar with digital machines may suffer disadvantages. Kim Jin-hwan, who works at the Citizens' Health Institute, said, "There will be a policy to exempt those who are vaccinated from self-isolation, and those who have fast information will be vaccinated by receiving the ‘no-show vaccine’ which remains due to the non-compliance with the reservation." "Eventually, the inequality will grow rapidly after," he said. "We need to think about whether the vaccine passport is for everyone." Lastly, Kim said, "The Government should not approach unilaterally in the implementation of a quarantine plan being result-oriented, such as increasing the number of vaccinated people quickly. In addition, we need to think about how to efficiently and reasonably produce better results while considering human rights."

2)International level

Michael Ryan, head of the WHO's emergency response team, said in a press briefing that "There are things to consider in terms of ethics and practicality." He first pointed out that the distribution of vaccines is uneven around the world, and in fact, vaccine polarization is getting serious around the world. Considering the situation during the 1918 Spanish flu, it will take at least two years until the end of the global pandemic. As we have seen, Covid-19 is spreading through borders, and the aftermath of the endless spread of the virus, especially in Africa and India, will eventually return to rich countries. Therefore it is meaningless to divide countries into one/countries that have overcome Corona 19 and that haven't. Nevertheless, powerful countries like the United States, which have relatively many vaccines, are not willing to share vaccines with other countries, considering their own countries first. After all, people in poor countries have yet to start vaccinating, and if only some rich countries start vaccinating and travel around, inequality among people in poor countries will become more recognized and the "Vaccination Gap" will grow wider. Moreover, Kim Woo-Joo, a professor of infectious internal medicine said, "Foreigners with high vaccination rates get passports, but if locals(Koreans) do not, they will be compared," adding, "But the government will be at a difficult time because our vaccination rate is low to exempt mutual isolation with introducing countries."