As Cabinet starts to consider a vision for a post-lockdown future, and Australia prepares to trial vaccine passports with selected countries, questions are being asked about impacts on liberty and privacy for vaccine passport use within a country. Prime Minister Scott Morrison says once 80% of adults have had two shots, people will be allowed to travel overseas again. Proof of vaccine records will be needed for outgoing and inbound travelers from the Pacific, the UK and the US, also Singapore, Japan and South Korea.
Proof will take the form of a QR code linked to an actual passport. Our Ministry of Health has confirmed vaccine passports will be available for Kiwis later this year. Meanwhile the UK has rowed back on vaccine passports for use within England, for fear of limiting freedoms and creating a two-tier society.
Lynn speaks with Dave Parry, professor of Engineering, Computer and Mathematical Sciences at the Auckland University of Technology, Dr Andrew Chen, a Research Fellow with Koi Tū: The Centre for Informed Futures at the University of Auckland and Justine Nolan - law professor and the director of the Australian Human Rights Institute at UNSW Sydney.
New Zealand's 'vaccine passport' is likely to be a digital Covid-19 vaccination certificate containing a QR code. Photo: 123rf
