|
 Those developing the technologies however, say such tools come with
consequences such as potentially excluding whole groups from social
participation, and are urging lawmakers to think seriously about how
they are used.
The travel and entertainment industries, which have struggled to
operate at a profit while imposing social distancing regulations,
are particularly interested in a way of swiftly checking who has
protection.
Among those developing passports are biometrics company iProov and
cyber security firm Mvine which have built a vaccine pass now being
tested within Britain's National Health Service after receiving UK
government funding.
iProov founder and chief executive Andrew Bud believes such vaccine
passports only really need to hold two pieces of information.
"One is, has this person been vaccinated? And the other is, what
does this person look like?"
You need only match a face to a vaccination status, you don't need
to know a person's identity, he added.
Confirmation of patrons' vaccination status could help the
night-time economy, which employs some 420,000 people in the
northern English city of Manchester, off its knees, experts say.
"We have to look at how to get back to normal," said Sacha Lord, an
industry adviser and co-founder of the city's Parklife music
festival.
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 While there have been
experiments in socially distanced concerts and
events over the last year, they weren't
financially viable, he said.
"A gig isn't a gig or a festival isn't a
festival unless you are stood shoulder to
shoulder with your friends.
"I don't think we should be forcing people into
the vaccine passports. It should be a choice.
But on entry, if you don't have that passport,
then we will give you another option," he added,
suggesting the use of rapid result coronavirus
tests. Bud said vaccine
certificates were being rolled out in some countries, and in the
United Sates, some private sector health passes were being used to
admit customers to sports events.
"I think vaccine certificates raise huge social and political
issues. Our job is to provide the technology basis for making
vaccine passports and certificates possible ... It is not our place
to make judgments about whether they are a good idea or not," he
said.
Potential issues could arise around discrimination, privilege and
exclusion of the younger generation who would be last in line to be
vaccinated, he said, adding he believed government was giving it
careful consideration.
(Reporting by Natalie Thomas; Writing by Alexandra Hudson; Editing
by Mike Collett-White)
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