Vaccine Passport Implementation
Government of British Columbia
On August 23, the government of British Columbia announced that by September 13, all British Columbians over the age of 12 needed to have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine in order to access events, services and businesses such as restaurants, concerts, and gyms.
After plenty of debate regarding the most effective way to prove vaccination, BC launched the BC Vaccine Card. For most British Columbians, the card is easy to set up, requiring information such as date of birth, date(s) of vaccination(s), type of vaccination, clinic location of each dose, personal health number, and a legal name. This generates a QR code that can be scanned by the business to confirm vaccination.
There are three main features that vaccine passports need in order to be effective: They cannot be easily counterfeited, they must be easy to access and display, and must be quickly verifiable. QR codes meet these criteria, being secure and manageable, indecipherable to the naked eye, and can be read by an equally secure device.
When entering a place such as a restaurant, the host or waiter will ask to see the vaccine card and a piece of valid government photo ID; however, people aged 12–18 will only need to show the BC vaccine card, and not ID. Considering that no vaccine has been approved yet for those under the age of 12, children under that age are exempt from the vaccine card requirements.
Since the announcement was made on August 23, bookings for vaccine appointments have increased as much as 200 per cent compared to the week before. The increase in bookings have mostly come from people under the age of 40. However, nearly 20 per cent of BC’s population is still not fully vaccinated. Caroline Colijn, a BC epidemiologist, said, “[the vaccine card] has changed things noticeably, but it wasn’t like, wow, OK, we’ll get that extra 10 per cent or 20 per cent in the next three weeks. It’s not that rapid.”
Effective October 24, all British Columbians over the age of 12 must be fully vaccinated to access any business where vaccine passports are required.