Here come coronavirus vaccine passports: What P&C insurers need to know
As COVID-19 infection rates rise, proof of vaccination is taking on new importance for businesses.
Property and casualty insurers strangled by the dangers of the coronavirus can now guarantee a relatively safe return to offices and similar public spaces with digitized, highly verifiable ‘vaccine passports.’
Overall, the digital documents are expected to go a long way towards reassuring the people who manage public spaces — and the people who congregate there — that everyone has taken great pains to stop the scourge in its tracks.
Plus, the digitized proofs-of-vaccine are considered extremely convenient — since they’re generally stored on smartphones — and seen as much tougher to counterfeit than government proof-of-vaccination, which is issued on paper.
There’s only one hitch: The emergence of these digital vaccine passports has become entangled with federal government efforts to mandate vaccines at workplaces — triggering vehement controversy across the property and casualty insurance industry and beyond.
Some have a major problem with any governmental entity trying to tell them who should and should not be vaccinated at their workplaces.
Meanwhile, many other coronavirus-weary insurers see vaccine passports as an easy way to reassure workers – and customers – that they’re fairly well protected against the coronavirus.
These diametrically opposed perspectives triggered a showdown in the courts between the Biden Administration — which is pushing a vaccine mandate for businesses — against attorney generals from 11 states.
Either get your employees vaccinated, the Administration has ordered businesses with more than 100 employees, or subject them to weekly, rigorous testing for COVID-19.
“COVID-19 has had a devastating impact on workers, and we continue to see dangerous levels of cases,” said U.S. Labor Secretary Marty Walsh.
“Many businesses understand the benefits of having their workers vaccinated against COVID-19,” Walsh added. “And we expect many will be pleased to see this OSHA rule go into effect.”
While both sides have had victories as the dispute has coursed through the court system, the Biden Administration currently has the upper hand, with a U.S. Appeals Court decision upholding its vaccine mandate.
Under that ruling, requirements for vaccinations and testing will be implemented by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).
Even so, anti-vaxers are still attempting to overturn the mandate in the U.S. Supreme Court.
Says Austin Knudsen, Montana’s Attorney General and one of the attorney generals fighting the Biden Administration: “If a president can unilaterally force people to submit to a medical procedure they don’t want, then there’s seemingly no limit to the federal government’s control over our lives. President Biden’s illegal mandate is an egregious overreach and sets the country down a dangerous path.”
Technology captures vaccine data
As the legal battle rages, property and casualty insurers that do like the idea of vaccine passports will find that several heavy hitters from the world of health and high tech — including the Mayo Clinic, health insurer Cigna and Microsoft, for example — have already developed digital vaccine passports they can use at their workplaces.
The Mayo/Cigna/Microsoft vaccine passport technology, for example, is designed to enable workers and others to show proof of vaccination using their smartphones — which appears as a QR code that can be easily scanned with a common QR scanner.
The technology is already available at Walmart, where customers who get vaccinated against the coronavirus at Walmart — or at Walmart’s affiliate, Sam’s Club — can also sign-up to get a QR code vaccine passport stored on their smartphone.
Walmart puts the certification together by working with a third-party health app company, which agrees to store a customer’s proof of vaccination credentials and helps generate the QR code that appears on a customer’s phone.
Says John Furner, CEO and president, Walmart U.S.: “Our goal is to give customers vaccinated at Walmart free and secure digital access to their vaccine record and enable them to share that information with third-parties.”
Adds Joan Harvey, president of care solutions at Evernorth, Cigna’s health services business, regarding the system Walmart is using: “A secure, convenient solution to verify COVID-19 vaccination will play an important role in accelerating a healthy and safe return to work, school and life in general.”
Meanwhile, IBM is also pushing its own digital vaccine passport technology that also uses a QR code that appears on a smartphone.
IBM officially rolled out the digital passport early in 2021 for use in New York. However, the tech is easily adaptable by other governmental entities, according to Steve LaFleche, general manager, IBM public and federal market.
Yet another player advancing a vaccine passport solution: Mastercard. The goliath credit card company is partnering with the International Chamber of Commerce to come up with a digitized, proof-of-vaccination solution.
Says Ajay Bhalla, president, cyber and intelligence, Mastercard: “Delivering a global, interoperable health pass system can only happen if we come together in a way that meets the needs of everyone involved.”
Managing coronavirus risks
While at least some property and casualty insurers will most likely heave a sigh of relief when digitized coronavirus vaccine passports start becoming commonplace, market research firm Forrester cautions that those businesses and others should proceed with caution.
Specifically, property and casualty insurers endorsing vaccine passports for workers could be subject to charges of mishandling of sensitive data, discrimination, protests from labor unions, diminished cybersecurity — not to mention a backlash from clients and customers who are denied access to their business without a passport.
Any business contemplating a vaccine requirement passport should have in-house counsel look over those plans very carefully, according to the Forrester report, “The Opportunity, The Unknowns, and the Risks of Vaccine Passports in The Workplace.” Specific considerations the Forrester report advises:
- Plan for variants: New versions of the coronavirus may force companies to change up remote work versus return-to-office planning.
- Have your counsel vet the concept of vaccine passports: Counsel must weigh the brought by proof of inoculation against right-to-privacy protests that might ensue.
- Be careful with medical data: Only collect the minimum amount of medical data you need to establish vaccination status.
Mike Sicilia, executive vice president of Oracle’s Global Business Units, believes when it comes to having the reassurance that the person working next to you has been vaccinated, the benefits outweigh the risks: “This process needs to be as easy as online banking.”
Although a few state attorneys general might disagree with that view.
Joe Dysart is an internet speaker and business consultant based in Manhattan. Contact him at joe@breakingnewsintech.com.
Related: