![]() It’s harder to challenge the state government saying you have to regulate more, you have to pass vaccine passport requirements. The Texas governor already had an executive order saying there’s going to be no mandate. We are a litigious country in general, and this issue has become so political. Michael Ulrich BU Today: It sounds like no matter which way we go, someone somewhere is going to sue. I believe states would be allowed to prevent private entities from doing this, but it would likely be through some anti-discrimination law on the state level. Again, a court might say, “The data say that this is safe, therefore the state is justified in having this mandate,” or a court could say, “This is under emergency use, so you cannot mandate.” We simply don’t know. You can’t forcefully require somebody to be vaccinated. You can punish -your children can’t go to school if they’re not vaccinated, or something. Michael Ulrich: In general, states have the authority to mandate vaccines. Michael Ulrich: A court could say, “The data look good, so that’s what we’re going to focus on.” Or a court could say, “It is still under emergency use, and that should mean it cannot be mandated.” Also, a court could say, “A movie theater, sitting in a closed space for three hours, is going to be evaluated differently than a grocery store.” BU Today: If the feds are not going to mandate vaccine passports, is there any legal impediment to states doing so? So somebody might say, “I don’t have a medical or religious issue, but these haven’t been fully assessed, so I don’t feel safe taking it.” BU Today: Fauci has said the mounting evidence is that the COVID vaccines are more effective in the real world than in the trials, which is the reverse of what’s typical. There’s credible evidence for the COVID vaccines, but they are still technically under emergency use. Every person who doesn’t want to get one could say, “I have a medical issue or religious objection.” Then the question is, are these passports going to have you prove that? The other issue is, typically vaccine mandates are for things we’ve had for decades and we know they’re safe. If a private entity says, “This is for the safety of the students or the customers or the attendees,” that’s a strong justification for regulating who comes in. Now, if somebody says, “I just don’t want to get the vaccine, you have to let me in,” that might be more difficult to prove a legal right to enter. If somebody qualifies to say, “I can’t be vaccinated because I have medical contraindications,” that might be discriminatory. But a lot of statutes prohibit private entities from discriminating against people-the Civil Rights Act, the Americans with Disability Act. Michael Ulrich: There aren’t constitutional issues, because that only deals with the government. ![]() Private entities are saying, “Look, this is a way for us to potentially get our business going again, if this is going to make people feel safe and like they can come back.” BU Today: Is there any legal impediment against private entities requiring proof of vaccination? That ends up more a regulatory role, working on things like privacy and data use. The federal government is less concerned with mandating this on a nationwide scale than trying to work with companies that want this. Q &A With Michael Ulrich BU Today: Government passports are mandatory for international travel, but vaccine passports aren’t necessarily mandatory, correct? “Are they going to be shut out of these places? more likely to be low-income, lack transportation, and more likely to be racial and ethnic minorities.”īU Today asked Ulrich to parse the pros and cons of vaccine passports. “There are plenty of people in plenty of areas that want the vaccine that are having a hard time getting it,” says Michael Ulrich, a School of Public Health assistant professor of health law, ethics, and human rights and a School of Law assistant professor. But while some applaud passports as a way to achieve herd immunity, others worry about equity. In reality, says Fauci (Hon.’18), director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, vaccine passports likely will be instituted by private businesses and nonprofits, from theaters to universities, seeking to protect their workers, patrons, and students. ![]() Photo courtesy of School of Public Health SPH’s Michael Ulrich says the biggest issue with vaccine passports is whether they’d discriminate against the poor and minorities, who are hindered in getting vaccinations.
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