KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Missouri Gov. Mike Parson won't require so-called vaccine passports in the state, but he's fine with private companies adopting them.
Some people have criticized vaccine passports as an invasion of privacy, which must be weighed against the toll of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. It creates some interesting legal questions, according to one Kansas City-area lawyer.
“So, if I don’t have a passport and I try to go into a store and I’m denied access, then I think that becomes a question of whether that denial of access is a violation of my civil rights for public accommodation,” attorney Donald Maxwell, managing member of Don Maxwell Law on the Country Club Plaza, said.
Maxwell also wonders if private businesses that elect to require a vaccine passport would create a violation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA.
“In the absence of any legislation from the state, I think you’re putting store owners and business owners in an awkward position to try to enforce that rule or mandate if they come up with it,” Maxwell said. “The question would be, what if you don’t have a passport (or) if you elected not to get vaccinated and you don’t have the passport? What’s the consequence?”
Chris Goode, the owner and founder of Ruby Jean’s Juicery, doesn't plan to enforce a vaccine passport policy, but he acknowledges some businesses may have a greater need to enact such a policy.
“If you’re going to spend $1,000 or $1,500 or whatever it is going to Italy, then you can take that extra step to make sure that you not only have your passport passport, but you have your vaccine passport,” Goode said.
He said getting vaccinated and having his immunization record with him made him feel safer before getting on a plane to Los Angeles.
Requiring vaccination documentation isn't a new concept for the airline industry.
“In the olden days, there was the yellow fever card," President of Shelton Travel Service, Mark Ebbitts, said. "It was a card issued by the National Institutes of Health and allowed you to travel to places that had yellow fever, showing that you had the shot.“
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Ebbitts said travel was declined more than 80% since the onset of COVID-19, but it has steadily picked up again in recent months.
“In our industry, if you are going internationally, I think you probably need to have that mandated,” said Ebbitts, who believes a vaccine passport could be key as the travel industry continues to bounce back. “The vaccine passport will definitely improve our business line, and not only ours but every agency, because people will feel more comfortable in getting out.“
Both Maxwell and Goode agree that the overriding message should be that efforts are meant to be beneficial to all, business owners and customers alike.
“I do feel that our governmental agencies and bodies at the local, state and national levels should have the ability to make a blanket expectation of this industry or that industry, so it’s understood and that it truly becomes a team effort,” Goode said. “So it’s not, 'Oh, you’re making me do something outside of my will,' when it’s just, 'No, this is just our new normal and this is what we have to do to get to our true normal.'"
