{"id":13823,"date":"2021-02-12T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-02-12T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/current_affairs\/uncategorized\/12-02-2021\/immunity-passports\/"},"modified":"2021-02-12T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2021-02-12T00:00:00","slug":"immunity-passports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/12-02-2021\/immunity-passports","title":{"rendered":"Immunity Passports"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>In News<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Recently, countries like <strong>Denmark<\/strong>, <strong>Estonia<\/strong>, <strong>Israel<\/strong>, <strong>Chile<\/strong>, <strong>UK<\/strong>, etc. have announced new <strong>digital corona passports<\/strong> (also referred to as <strong>immunity passports<\/strong> or <strong>release\/risk-free certificates<\/strong>), in order to <strong>ease travel restrictions<\/strong> amid the <strong>Covid-19 pandemic<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>About Immunity Passports<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>These digital documents would <strong>enable people to travel or return to work<\/strong> based on the <strong>assumption <\/strong>that <strong>having contracted the disease once, they would be immune<\/strong> to it for a considerable period of time.<\/li>\n<li>These <strong>do not prove immunity<\/strong> to the virus, but instead, be issued to those who had finished a mandatory quarantine after testing positive for the disease.<\/li>\n<li>The certificates<strong> would attest one of three things<\/strong>, that the holder\n<ul>\n<li>Has been vaccinated.<\/li>\n<li>Has tested negative for the virus.<\/li>\n<li>Has recovered from it.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cfstatic.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/file_library\/mix_content\/672801085526223900_image.png\" style=\"height:268px; margin-left:200px; margin-right:200px; width:321px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0 (Image Courtesy: Indian Express)<\/p>\n<p><strong>Logic Behind the Idea<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The <strong>natural immunity<\/strong> developed in a person after any infection <strong>protects them from contracting the disease again<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Once infected with a virus, the body\u2019s <strong>innate immune response kicks<\/strong> in, slowing the spread of the virus, which is then followed by an \u201c<strong>adaptive response<\/strong>\u201d.<\/li>\n<li>Under the adaptive response, the body makes <strong>antibodies<\/strong>, which bind to the virus and help eliminate it. If this response is strong enough, it may<strong> even prevent re-infection<\/strong> from the same pathogen.<\/li>\n<li>According to studies, the <strong>majority of Covid-19 patients produced antibodies<\/strong> \u201cpotentially providing immunity to reinfection\u201d.<\/li>\n<li><strong>On this basis<\/strong>, such passports will be <strong>issued to those who are deemed to be immune<\/strong> and may be able to get back to work and resume a normal life.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Benefits<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Easy Travel: <\/strong>With the easing of lockdowns, people would want to<strong> travel for various reasons<\/strong> and <strong>people with \u2018immunity\u2019 are able to move freely<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Boost for Economy:<\/strong> As the immune people will safely return to work and the <strong>international travel re-opens<\/strong> after so long, economies will start reviving.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Increased Support:<\/strong> <strong>Doctors<\/strong>, other <strong>healthcare workers,\u00a0<\/strong>and <strong>security personnel<\/strong> can return to their jobs and help the existing workforce.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Concerns Highlighted<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The <strong>World Health Organization <\/strong>(WHO) warned against using such certificates.\n<ul>\n<li>There is <strong>not enough evidence about the effectiveness of antibody-mediated immunity<\/strong> to guarantee the accuracy of such passports.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Further, even if immunity from Covid-19 is considered, the <strong>duration of such immunity is not known yet<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>The use of such certificates may <strong>increase the risks of continued transmission<\/strong>.\n<ul>\n<li>People who assume they are immune to a second infection because they have received a positive test result <strong>may ignore public health advice<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>The move has been <strong>criticized <\/strong>for being<strong> both scientifically and ethically controversial<\/strong>.\n<ul>\n<li>Experts have <strong>cautioned governments against rapid actions<\/strong> as much still remains to be understood about the spread of the virus and the immunity to it.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Issuing such certificates would <strong>create resentment among members of the community<\/strong>, and raise the <strong>possibility of stigmatization<\/strong>.\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Lack of crucial information<\/strong> would make<strong> categorizing between immune and non-immune persons<\/strong> a <strong>challenging <\/strong>as well as <strong>potentially dangerous<\/strong> task.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Such measures may also lead to <strong>corruption and bias<\/strong>, which could be reflected in the administration of certification to discriminate against vulnerable groups.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Suggestions<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The number of<strong> people who can participate in social, civic, and economic activities<\/strong> should be limited.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Vaccine certificates<\/strong>, which are fundamentally different from immunity passports, may be an <strong>effective way<\/strong> to start lifting physical distancing measures, but this can also be implemented once a vaccine is administered.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/immunity-passports-coronavirus-explained-7182117\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source: IE<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In News Recently, countries like Denmark, Estonia, Israel, Chile, UK, etc. have announced new digital corona passports (also referred to as immunity passports or release\/risk-free certificates), in order to ease travel restrictions amid the Covid-19 pandemic. About Immunity Passports These digital documents would enable people to travel or return to work based on the assumption [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13824,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13823","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2023\/07\/7633255current-affairs-3-2.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13823","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13823"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13823\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13824"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}