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Research for a coronavirus vaccine is progressing, and it is fueling hope for a return to normalcy. Image: keystone
To the football game thanks to the Corona vaccine pass
A vaccine is coming. Should people vaccinated against Covid-19 enjoy more freedom? Health Commission President Ruth Humbel launched the debate on an immunity card.
Football matches with packed stadiums, trips without quarantine, visits to nightclubs and restaurants without fear of contracting the coronavirus: the positive news from the vaccination investigations is fueling the hope of returning to normality soon. And they give new impetus to a debate that has been brewing for some time: do people who have antibodies due to an infection or who are vaccinated against Covid-19 benefit from certain relief if they are certain that they will be immune during a certain period of time? Do you need an immunity card, a kind of crown passport?
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The National Councilor of the CVP of Aargau, Ruth Humbel, can imagine it, as she said in the program “Sonntalk” of TeleZüri. If you are confident that a vaccine will also prevent infection, you believe that at large events such as soccer games, for example, only people immune to the coronavirus can be allowed in. The president of the National Council Health Commission (SGK) suggests the same rules for traveling or accessing the clubs. “Anyone who is vaccinated would have more freedom,” says Humbel. You are considering discussing your ideas at SGK or submitting a proposal.
Is there a deliberate infection?
The introduction of a crown pass raises a number of controversial issues. How do you ensure that such a certificate does not protect non-immune people from discrimination and serves the common good? Despite such concerns, an immunity card has the approval of the people.
“Those who protect themselves also protect others and, therefore, show solidarity. In return, these people should also gain an advantage, ”says CVP policy Ruth Humbel. Photo: trapezoidal
This is demonstrated by a study that appeared a few days ago in the journal “Swiss MedicalWeekly”. The Geneva University Hospital interviewed some 1,400 people in the canton of Geneva. About two-thirds said that an immunity card should be offered to the population if immunity is guaranteed. Genevans find this type of identification particularly useful for air travel and border crossings, but also for participating in important events.
49 percent even defended the mandatory nature of immunity cards. However, two-thirds also feel a risk of discrimination. And nearly a third fear that a corona pass could encourage people to intentionally contract the virus and thus obtain a free ticket to fully participate in social life.
Professor Idris Guessous is the chief physician of the polyclinic of the Geneva University Hospital. The study co-author does not make any recommendation for or against a corona immunity card. “Our job is to collect data to help politicians make the best decisions.” Ethical objections, the potential unequal treatment between the immune and the non-immune, also concern Guessous. For him, it is clear that if an immunity card is introduced, accompanying measures are needed so that it is also acceptable to people without antibodies, so that it benefits society as a whole.
Guessous does not believe that immunity cards should be used a priori to attend sporting events such as football matches. However, you can imagine that in such a scenario non-immune people could safely attend a football match thanks to the provision of free protective masks or corona tests.
Task Force warns of discrimination
One of the goals of the immunity card is to prevent another extensive shutdown of public life. “The confinements increase social inequalities,” says Study co-author Take Mayssam. This aspect should be taken into account in the discussion.
The Federal Office of Public Health is reluctant. “Before it is clear what quality and efficacy the approved Covid-19 vaccines will have, it is too early to discuss the design of the immunity certificates,” says spokeswoman Katrin Holenstein.
The federal Covid-19 task force is also stepping on the brakes on this issue. “At this point, however, it is premature for us to comment on this from a scientific point of view,” he says through the media office. However, in an article published in the spring, federal scientific advisers are highly skeptical of immunity certificates. They see it as a punishment for those who, thanks to protection measures, have not been infected with the corona virus.
The task force even refers to the dark times of the past. In Italy, for example, at the time of fascism, health cards were used to control foreign workers as part of a campaign against malaria. The task force warns of discrimination against non-immune people, including in the world of work.
An immunity card can only be justified if direct and indirect discrimination is avoided at the same time. Christoph Rehmann-Sutter also points out this aspect: “If it is fair that a group, here the immune one, has certain advantages or privileges, everyone, including the disadvantaged, should benefit from it,” said the professor for theory and Ethics of Life Sciences at the University of Lübeck in an interview with our newspaper. Ruth Humbel sees no potential for discrimination in a passport immunity, provided there is enough vaccine available for everyone who wants to be vaccinated: “Those who protect also protect others and show solidarity. In return, these people should get an advantage. “
In action in the Russian ice hockey league
In Germany, Health Minister Jens Spahn launched plans for a crown pass already in the spring, but ignited the German Ethics Council after severe criticism. He declined the introduction in September because too many questions about immune protection remained unanswered. Half of the council members, however, consider that an immunity card is useful under certain conditions, so that, for example, immune teachers or caregivers can continue to work when the number of infections increases.
Data protection compliant technology is now available to document one’s immunity. Several Swiss companies, for example Sicpa based in Lausanne, offer QR codes with secure blockchain technology that you can display on your mobile phone or printed on paper. “Our solution is reliable and will allow people to travel again, visit relatives, work,” says Philippe Gillet, Sicpa scientific director and professor at ETH Lausanne.
Sicpa technology is already in use by Corona, even in Russia’s highest ice hockey league or to handle air travel between Russia and Asia. People who can demonstrate through a negative test that they are not currently carrying the coronavirus can chase the disc or get on the plane without worry.
