A vaccination pass is coming, just don't punish the hospitality industry

The idea of a vaccine pass to gain entry to everyday places such as restaurants and theatres appears to be gaining traction. It gets more perplexing by the day as the noise grows louder and the detail gets brushed over.

Former prime minister John Key raised it in his foray into fixing the Kingdom. “Our daughter was in Paris a few weeks ago and if you don’t have your vaccine passport you don’t get in there”.

The Vax-Pass

Call it what you will – Covid Pass, Health Pass, or Pass Sanitaire if you’re French. We’re about to get one in New Zealand.

Writing to the Ministry of Health for a proof-of-vaccine-letter doesn’t cut the mustard for long. Like every country ours will end up being electronic and accessed off an app. It will be updated with boosters, vaccine type, batch number and dates.

We will be able to print off a copy to carry for international travel or flash it on our phones at the check-in desk.

Frantic work is happening right now, because we need easy access evidence that meets international standards.

Besides travel and maybe large events, how widely should we use a Kiwi vaccine pass?

It was a powerful idea from our ex-PM to exclude the unvaccinated from licensed premises, with the flip of a French finger. But all sorts of venues from those serving coffee and eggs to movie theatres can also sell you a beer. Using ‘licensing’ would divide the industry. Using hospitality full-stop is a minefield.

It’s a long rod for our backs, queuing with our phones or bits of paper at every outlet. These businesses have to provide staff to check our double-jab record and turn away those who forgot their proof. Once we install policies like this they become a security blanket for many.

Going French

Many of us will give it the nod and think it’s a great idea to make the lives of anti-vaxers and the vaccine hesitant as difficult as possible.

If you saw French society close up, you’d realise this isn’t a nation we align closely with. During long lockdowns they put a 1km radius rule in place and required citizens to print out a piece of paper every time they left the house, with the date and reason for leaving filled in.

If the Gendarmerie found you weren’t carrying the paper you got fined.

When it comes to the Pass Sanitaire, small businesses rebel. What Macron says and what the French do, are two different things. On a recent trip to France a waiter said to me “we do not give a sheet about these rules”. Overbearing laws are flouted.

They’ve staged protests carrying signs with “non au Pass Sanitaire” and these have turned violent. In the words of the New York Times: “Mr Macron chose to infantilize the French – and they did not like it.”

When a vaccine pass system is designed in a country that believes in basic freedoms, you have to account for everyone. In France, if you’re vaccinated, you get a pass. If you’ve had Covid in the last six months, you get a pass. If you’re someone who can’t take a vaccine for medical reasons, you get an exemption and carry a medical certificate. If you’re unvaccinated by preference, you gain entry to venues with a negative Covid test loaded on the Pass Sanitaire app, less than 72 hours ago.

Up until now, all convenience tests for the unvaccinated have been free for the French. Come mid-October they’re making people pay. Home test kits cost €6 ($10) and will be valid for restaurant bookings if performed in front a doctor, nurse or pharmacist.

This where Macron is bound to get himself in tangle. For a very low cost, the true anti-vaxers can queue at the pharmacy, or tell fibs regarding symptoms, so they maintain free testing for entry. While it’s a prod for the vaccine hesitant, there are many other lighter methods to be tried before punishing the hospitality industry and the entire population with another barrier.

Vaccine passes have to account for all anomalies

We will all forget our phone or paper pass at times, preventing spur of the moment visits or embarrassment in front of friends. Those with mental health issues or memory challenges will find it difficult to cope. If you’re not neuro-typical, have anxiety or can’t quite recall being vaccinated due to mild dementia, the documentation becomes a barrier to life.

New Zealand is vaccinating 12-year-olds. Will they be refused entry if they haven’t made up their mind yet? If you’re exempt until age 18, do restaurants then have to check ID if you look under 25, like the alcohol laws? Or do 12-year-olds have to carry their own exemption documentation?

Before going all-French on it, perhaps we need to tackle the issue with vaccinations in schools, large work-places and heavy targeting of low vax rate communities. Jab convenience is a big factor.

The inconvenience and cost of a Covid test to attend large events, stadiums, festivals, concerts and travel will also be enough to get the vaccine hesitant over time.

Finally that weighted word of ‘fear’ does play its part. As Covid risks get physically closer and become more real, hesitancy is over-ridden.

The hospitality industry is not the right location for the vaccine police. Instead, we need to keep New Zealand safe with free regular self-testing in homes, work places and schools. Constant surveillance where we all take personal responsibility for checking our Covid-free status is a priority that has gained little traction in New Zealand.

Those of us living overseas can only repeat over and over – having a vaccine will save your life, but it doesn’t make you Covid-free when you walk into a restaurant. Test, test, test is the new normal.

Janine Starks is the author of www.moneytips.nz and can be contacted at moneytips.nz@gmail.com. She is a financial commentator with expertise in banking, personal finance and funds management.