PICK A SIDE: Who should be in charge of domestic vaccine passports?
Published August 27, 2021 at 12:03 pm
With the reopening of schools rapidly approaching, and COVID-19 cases continuing to rise, many in Ontario and across Canada continue to debate the efficacy of a vaccine passport.
With the Province still reluctant to mandate vaccines for all residents who are eligible, many businesses, and health units have begun implementing their own.
Previously, Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment announced it would be mandating all spectators and staff provide proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test before they would be admitted to venues.
Metrolinx also announced all staff would be required to provide proof of vaccination in order to continue working for the company, the only exceptions being for those who have a health condition that precludes them from getting the vaccine.
Toronto University Health Network also implemented a vaccine mandate—employees will be required to get vaccinated, if they haven’t done so already, by a certain date or lose their job.
It seems, as hospitalizations continue to rise, almost exclusively among the unvaccinated, some form of verification will be implemented in the coming weeks.
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The federal government has suggested they intend to implement some form of documentation for border crossings, but domestically, it will be in the hands of the provincial governments.
However, currently, only Quebec has announced it will be implementing a vaccine passport, which will come into effect on September 1.
Every other Province has been hesitant to implement one. As a result, individual businesses and municipalities have been left to come up with their own versions, which can be even more confusing.
So, if vaccine passports are an inevitability, how should they be implemented?
Is a federal system the way to go?
Should they be handled by each individual province, similar to driver’s licenses?
Should they be left to each individual city and municipality?
Those who believe a federal system is the best option feel it’s the simplest, least confusing way of doing things.
However, those who prefer a provincial system feel a federal rollout would take up a significant amount of time and resources, and a provincial system could be implemented much more efficiently.
Those in favour of a municipal system feel, given how different one city is from another, the needs of a place like Mississauga would be vastly different than somewhere such as Paris, Ontario, and each City and Municipality has the best understanding of what would work best for them.
So, readers, what do you think?
Who should be in charge of a domestic vaccine passport?
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