As more people receive COVID-19 vaccines, the issue of vaccine passports has become a hot topic in Canada. A vaccine passport could be used to certify that an individual has received specific vaccines, potentially granting privileges such as travelling across a border or being permitted to access certain venues like restaurants or concerts. The regulation of these passports raises many questions, including whether or not their implementation would infringe on Canadians’ Charter rights.
Common Law Professors Colleen Flood and Vivek Krishnamurthy, along with Bryan Thomas, Senior Research Associate at the Centre for Health Law, Policy and Ethics, Ryan Tanner, PhD candidate at the Faculty of Law, and Dr. Kumanan Wilson, Senior Scientist at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute and Professor at the Faculty of Medicine, have authored a new report that examines legal issues connected to the implementation of vaccine passports. They consider how passports could work in the context of Canadians’ Charter rights and privacy rights.
The report was released by the C.D. Howe Institute, funded in part by the COVID-19 Immunity Task Force, launched by the Government of Canada in collaboration with Canadian Institutes of Health Research.