Last update: May 5, 2021.
The USA is yet to implement a vaccination certificate program, but cities are taking matters into their own hands and considering a vax-pass for sporting events.
Important states such as New York and Texas are making key decisions regarding the entry into stadiums, and other public venues with a special COVID health pass.
US sports fans get back in the stands during the pandemic
The first major US sporting event was the much anticipated 2021 Super Bowl held in Florida in February.
Only 25,000 fans were in attendance of which a third were vaccinated health care workers. Strict social distancing and safety protocols set the benchmark for events to follow.
New York sporting events
COVID certificates for live sports events in the US might soon be a reality to get events back to this scale. So far, the major indoor arenas in NYC, Madison Square Garden, and Barclays Center are allowing 10% of the arena to be filled.
Around 2,000 lucky fans have the chance to cheer on their teams. Yankee Stadium and Citi Field will be able to host around double that.
Texas at half capacity
In Texas, Dallas Cowboys fans could still attend games at Arlington Stadium as they only limited their capacity to 50%.
As baseball season approaches, over 40,000 fans are set to pack Globe Life Stadium to see the Texas Rangers in action.
Do I need a Covid certificate to enter stadiums?
The proposed vax-pass program has not yet been launched and the struggles to standardize the process are delaying the implementation.
Dr. Allison Arwady, the Chicago Department of Public Health Commissioner, said that the city will launch its program in May. The vaccination certificate will serve as an incentive, especially for the youth, to get vaccinated to attend concerts and sporting events.
Dr. Arwady said: “As we build vaccine confidence and convenience, we’re interested in thinking about ways to incentivize people to get the vaccine.
I would hope that for most people their main incentive is to be able to stay healthy, keep their families healthy, keep their communities healthy — but we also know, younger people, in particular, might be excited about the idea of getting into events, for example, that might be limited to people who are vaccinated.”
Ernesto Pedroza of PromoShare agrees that this incentive might be a good call. “If they need a vax pass to go to a music festival to see their favorite band or their favorite artist, I think they’re going to run to get the vaccine.”
Is it legal to ask for a vaccine certificate in US stadiums?
It is not illegal to mandate a vaccination certificate. There are various grey areas regarding vaccine passports and many obligations are open for interpretation.
People in the US are not being forced to take the vaccine, the vax-pass will simply be used as an incentive to get vaccinated. It will not be mandatory to use a vax pass for essential services such as grocery shopping or going to school but recreational opportunities might become more limited.
Many will ask, is mandatory vaccination for sporting events legal? The short answer is, yes. Attending a sporting event is voluntary and the stadium and promoters hold the right to create terms and conditions if they see it as necessary for the overall wellbeing of all attendees.
An American COVID pass story: situation on health passports
The United States has been top of the COVID-19 infection tally since early in 2020 but they were also quick to secure a deal with AstraZeneca to have rapid vaccine rollouts when the time came.
By the end of 2020, America’s vaccination wheels were set in motion and by May 2021 they have administered around a quarter of the world’s total vaccines.
These astonishing numbers are offset by the lack of authentication infrastructure, as the USA still has no official regulation regarding “vaccine passports”.
In a recent effort to get more people to vaccination stations, sporting venues and other large-scale events are considering using a vax-pass to get people back in their seats.
The use of such a pass has been hotly contested but venues and events around the country are planning to continue with the effort. As the vaccine supply outweighs the demand in the USA, efforts are being made to even them out by the summer.
Facing stern opposition on a US vax-pass
Nowhere in the world has a vaccination certificate been implemented without some backlash.
The main concern is of course that of the safety and security of personal information. The apps that have been implemented so far only display limited information such as your name and the type of vaccine citizens received but everyone is not completely on board.
The executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union in Illinois, Coleen Connell, said that “vaccination mandates like the vax pass can be consistent with civil liberties, values, and principles when there’s a grave threat to public health.”
Fake vaccination certificates in the US have been made available online and paper proof of vaccination might not be as secure as many would like.
Lamont Black, a finance professor at DePaul University, explains: “It is a way of verifying vaccination and a way of verifying that information and sharing it among key stakeholders and being able to have that information be secure, transparent, and verifiable, it is much better than a piece of paper.
Blockchain technology is a decentralized distributed ledger that provides never before seen digital security. This technology is being implemented with COVID passes around the world (e.g. the Korean COVID certificate) and Black explains that this is the safest way possible.
“This would be a way that is verified by a hospital, by the regulators. Then when you’re checked going into a sports event or something else, everyone knows that information is true, and it is secure on the blockchain.”
Is the US alone in this COVID pass for public venues?
The USA is not alone in its endeavors to implement vaccination certificates. Sporting bodies in the UK have pleaded with Prime Minister Boris Johnson to implement a similar structure to ensure fans can get back into stadiums.
Israel, which has the world’s most effective vaccine rollout to date, has swiftly implemented a “Green Pass”. The Israeli health certificate allows inoculated citizens to enter gyms, events, cinemas, and other recreational facilities by simply swiping their QR codes.