Adam: No one raised a fuss about vaccine certificates until we called them "passports"

Mohammed Adam 4 minute read July 29, 2021

Mohammed Adam holds a vaccine certificate that is often used when travelling internationally. Ashley Fraser / Postmedia

In the course of this pandemic, Canadians have battled through misinformation about COVID-19 and the safety and efficacy of vaccines — and prevailed.

Now, as the country gradually reopens, and people debate the measures needed to safely return to normal life, whether it is going to the gym, back to work, or taking that long-postponed holiday, they have to contend with more confusion over the misnamed COVID “vaccine passport.” 

Pick up a newspaper, turn on the radio or watch TV, and there is no shortage of journalists and assorted experts mischaracterizing a proof of vaccination document as a passport and stoking unwarranted anxiety about invasion of privacy and discrimination.

Calling such documents passports, is causing unnecessary public alarm over the infringement of rights, and giving COVID deniers and anti-vaxxers new ammunition to confuse people. It should stop. 

Let’s be clear: A document showing that you have been vaccinated for one condition or another, is not a vaccination passport, and never was. These documents, which have been around for decades, are certificates. It says so on the cover — International Certificate of Vaccination — and no serious or credible privacy issues have been raised against them. They do not contain any private health information. They simply tell whatever authority is asking, that you have been vaccinated for a specific thing: say, meningitis or today, COVID-19. That’s it. We could have a domestic version if we want.

Various vaccine certificates, used to prove vaccination status for diseases such as cholera or yellow fever. ASHLEY FRASER/Postmedia Ashley Fraser / Postmedia

No one ever called a proof of yellow fever or cholera certificate a vaccination passport, so there’s no reason to use the term for COVID-19. But human rights advocates have waded into the controversy to raise concerns about abuse of privacy. Of course, if you call a vaccine card a passport, it should come as no surprise that people get riled up because passports do contain personal information. But vaccination certificates are not passports, and do not contain the kind of personal or private health information some are worried about. It is hard to see what privacy issue at stake, and how a vaccination certificate causes discrimination. 

I have had vaccination certificates for years. I am sure some of you have, as well. Some countries require proof of vaccination for specific conditions or you don’t get in. So, if you happen to be travelling somewhere, you check what’s required, go to a clinic for a shot, get the appropriate certificate and official stamp, and off you go. There is no other medical information recorded. Rich or poor, black or blue, you get the same certificate. No discrimination. 

A COVID vaccination card or certificate is, and should, be no different. If you are fully vaccinated, it says so. Nothing more, nothing less. In fact, many of us in Ontario and across the country, already have our vaccination certificates. After your first and second shots, you get a piece of paper showing you have received the required two doses and therefore are fully vaccinated. The same information is sent to you digitally, so that, if necessary, it can be scanned. There is no indication that your personal medical information is recorded. There is no indication your privacy is in any way compromised. If, for some medical or other reason you can’t be vaccinated, you take a Covid test. 

What governments should do is standardize what passes for a COVID vaccination certificate, so that if you show one anywhere in the country or the world where proof of vaccination is required, it is accepted, just as a yellow fever or cholera card has been for decades. We don’t need to reinvent the wheel.  

Ontario and the federal government have ruled out mandatory domestic COVID vaccination certificates. Quebec, however, will require them. This being Canada, there will be a patchwork across the country. But, make no mistake, sooner or later, you may have to show proof of vaccination to get around, especially if you want to travel outside of the country.

For now, let’s do ourselves a favour by ditching the term “vaccination passport.” It will save us unnecessary angst.   

Mohammed Adam is an Ottawa journalist and commentator. Reach him at  

