An immunity passport? The jury is still out

What you need to know:

  • Immunity passport defined as a certificate that declares that someone is no longer at risk of contracting coronavirus because they have already had it.
  • It would exempt holders from restrictions on activity imposed to contain the spread of the virus.

Imagine a situation where, instead of getting stigmatised, recovering from Covid-19 actually puts you at an advantage.

Well, there is a new buzzword in town, and as the coronavirus continues to spread across the world, this buzzword is fast catching on. It is the immunity passport.

Since the World Health Organisation declared the epidemic, Covid-19 has overwhelmed healthcare systems, destroyed economies and caused several countries to close their borders.

As the world works to contain the highly contagious virus, countries are exploring different options in a bid to reopen for business.

In China, many cities are returning to normalcy, four months after the virus was first detected in Wuhan. But while the government is slowly relaxing restrictions, Chinese health experts have urged the public to continue to practice caution.

To tackle 'silent' (or asymptomatic) carriers of the Covid-19 China introduced a system to regulate citizens’ lives that require them to use a software on their smartphones that dictates in real-time whether they should be quarantined or allowed into subways, malls, and other public spaces. In Germany, the Robert Koch Institute, a public health body, is exploring whether to issue people with certificates to prove they are immune to Covid-19 to ease restrictions.

The Institute defines an immunity passport as a certificate that declares that someone is no longer at risk of contracting coronavirus because they have already had it. It would exempt holders from restrictions on activity imposed to contain the spread of the virus.

Although this concept has been gained traction from the German public health, which is organising a mass study into how many people are already immune to Covid-19, the German government has not officially commented on where it stands on immunity passports. The proponents of the idea of immunity passport argue that issuing people with proof of their “virus-free” status would give officials the ability to isolate new outbreaks when they emerge and allow those immune to the virus an opportunity to go back to work and get the economy moving again.

In the Veneto region of Italy, infected doctors and nurses are being tested to see if they have developed resistance to the virus, so they could return to work. Millions more in Italy will be tested for natural antibodies to see whether they have developed immunity to the virus and can return to normal life. But, it is unclear just how reliable and effective the tests are.

In the United Kingdom, Health Secretary Matt Hancock suggested that Britons who have had the virus might be issued with a certificate, which has already been dubbed an immunity passport. But there’s little evidence surrounding Covid-19 immunity.

"It's too early in the science of the immunity that comes from having had the disease" to take any firm decisions now, Hancock said.

The proposal presents a number of questions: Just how would people prove their status — and just what rights would that status confer?

Further, whenever a lockdown is lifted, will the virus return? And can those who have recovered from the virus get re-infected?