COVID vaccine passports pose more questions than answers

In Hollywood movies of a certain vintage, the Nazi functionary barks at a frightened citizen, “May we see your papers?” as he demands production of an identification card.

ID cards are a hallmark of the police state. They allow the government to collect personal data — who we are, where we live, where we were born — and potentially our entire medical histories, including whether we have been vaccinated. National IDs are required in many countries, such as Russia, China, Germany and France. France has had them since 1940, when the national identity card helped the Vichy authorities identify 76,000 Jews for deportation to the death camps.

We have never had national IDs in America. A driver’s license is the closest thing to it, but not everyone drives. A passport is close, but not everyone travels internationally. 

The COVID-19 crisis has caused the issue to resurface. How convenient it would be for the government to require a vaccine passport to be produced upon checking into a hotel, entering a restaurant or attending a sporting event. Of course, not everyone has been vaccinated, and not everyone is required to be vaccinated. But, roughly 41 percent of America’s population are reported to have received the COVID-19 vaccine. Those failing to produce the card might be lodged in a separate wing of the inn or received in a segregated section of a restaurant or seated in the back of the bus behind a guard-all shield.