The Economic Case for Vaccine Passports
The latest surge in COVID-19 cases in the United States has been called a pandemic of antivaxxers and conspiracy theorists. But it is more than that.
Children under 12, for example, are ineligible for vaccination, yet surprisingly susceptible to the Delta variant. Many immunocompromised adults also cannot be vaccinated, or remain highly vulnerable to infection even when fully vaccinated. And breakthrough cases among even the fully vaccinated have increased sharply with the spread of Delta.
These developments have spawned calls for vaccine passports—proof of vaccination for group gatherings in enclosed spaces. Many have denounced any such requirement as a violation of their rights, without specifying exactly what those rights are or explaining why society should enforce them.
Vaccine passports don’t raise novel
