New York state has used electronic COVID-19 “vaccination cards” to open New York Rangers games to fans at Madison Square Garden.
People in Israel can circumvent restrictions at businesses like gyms by showing a paper or electronic government-issued “vaccination certificate,” which is available for those who have received two doses of a vaccine and have waited a week.
And just last week, the European Union announced its program to create a vaccination card so residents can fly between EU countries in time for the summer holidays.
So what is the status of Hawaii’s attempts to produce such a vaccination card or certificate – which is seen as an enormously valuable tool for further safely opening up tourism and for events such as weddings and concerts?
Officially, Governor David Ige’s government is not speaking. Hawaii’s Director of Public Health, Dr. Libby Char recently called a Hawaii vaccination card “a possibility,” but didn’t respond to an interview request for this article. Gen. Kenneth Hara, who is leading the state’s response as director of the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency, declined to comment.
But unofficially there are signs that a pass could arrive in time for summer. Lt. gov. Josh Green, who serves as the state’s COVID-19 liaison and has helped develop a program to allow people to skip a 10-day quarantine by testing negative, said that while there “isn’t an official date,” there is he thinks a vaccination record for travelers to Hawaii could be in effect by May 15.
Although executives at the company working on the Hawaii Pass development declined to comment on the article, a spokeswoman for CommonPass wrote in an email, “We have some news that matches your request that will be out next week.”
While several vaccination certificates are in the works – notably ones being produced by IBM, CommonPass parent company The Commons Project, an airline company called Verifly, and the International Air Transportation Association – they would all generally do the same thing: provide evidence that the person bearing the document has been vaccinated.
The obvious application for Hawaii is to make it easier for travelers to enter the state by using proof of vaccination rather than a negative test.
“Taking the next step and making travel easier, that’s the obvious next step,” Green said.
The testing program has already brought visitor numbers back up to 15,000 per day – 50% of pre-COVID-19 levels. Green sees a vaccination record as a further boost to perhaps 75% of pre-COVID-19 levels, he said.
But proof of vaccination could do more than just benefit travelers and tourism businesses. Green also sees special events like weddings, as well as the Honolulu Marathon, which usually takes place in mid-December before the holiday season, and the IRONMAN World Championship Triathlon in October on the Big Island.
“The marathon and the Ironman become possible if you have a vaccination record to help,” Green said.
As promising as that sounds, one thing bothers tourism industry executives: the lack of information from above, which they believe is essential for planning.
“We never know what the governor is going to do and when he’s going to do it,” said Keith Vieira, a Honolulu-based hospitality industry consultant.
The islands are a long-distance destination for all visitors, he said, and Hawaii is hardly a cheap choice. This means people need to plan ahead.
“People generally book Hawaii in a 60 to 90 day time frame,” said Vieira, who previously managed Starwood Hotels and Resorts’ Hawaii properties. “So if you’re booking for the summer, you need to know now.”
The good news is that Hawaii has become a popular choice. Hotel occupancy over Easter is expected to top 70%, Vieira said. And for US travelers, Hawaii appears to be a better choice than destinations in Europe and Asia, where vaccine rollout is slow and onerous restrictions often make vacationing impractical.
“We never know what the governor is going to do or when he’s going to do it.” — Keith Vieira, consultant for Honolulu’s hospitality industry
The key to Hawaii, he said, is letting people know what to expect now.
“If you communicate clearly,” he said, “it’s easier for people to follow the rules.”
A small window of time
Time is critical for another reason, experts say. As immunizations of the US population are expected to accelerate by the end of May, by the time President Biden has promised there will be enough immunizations to vaccinate everyone, a passport could soon be obsolete, says Yara Asi, Postdoctoral fellow at the University of Central Florida who studied the topic.
If an overwhelming percentage of the population is vaccinated by late summer or fall, people may have less need to show they’ve been vaccinated as a requirement for travel or other activities, Asi said.
“By then, we’re being told that every American who wants one will have a vaccine,” she said. Given that the passports could take months longer to develop, she wonders how much lifespan they will have.
“I don’t see a window as to when this will be commercially viable,” she said.
And there is another risk: that vaccination certificates will widen the inequality gap between those with access to vaccines and those who cannot get them. Not only would unvaccinated people face health risks — they might not be able to attend events or travel.
Naalehu Anthony, as leader of the non-profit organization COVID Pau, helps spread information about COVID-19 to the community. Anthony is also committed to specific efforts to ensure vaccine access for non-native Hawaiian Pacific Islanders who have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19.
Anthony said efforts to get vaccines to people on the fringes could be scaled up to ensure people get vaccination certificates too.
But such good policies and intentions are one thing; the proof of effectiveness is the result, said Florida scientist Asi.
“The problem is, when you look at the results, you don’t necessarily see that translated,” said Asi, who has also written on issues related to migration and inequality.
Still, Anthony argues that the potential benefits of having a vaccination card outweigh any risks that such documents will exacerbate societal inequality. He points to the Merrie Monarch Festival, the annual celebration of Native Hawaiian culture, which was canceled in 2020.
As hundreds of hula artists wonder if they can gather on the island of Hawaii for this year’s event in June, a vaccination card could help provide some level of comfort and safety for performers, even if there’s no live this year -audience there, he said.
“It signals to people that things are happening that allow us to open up and move forward,” he said.
Join us for a virtual conversation about Hawaii’s COVID-19 vaccine effort with a state epidemiologist dr Sarah Kemble:
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