Quebec officials unveil details of COVID-19 vaccination passport system

Quebec's health minister says a vaccination passport system will be implemented on Sept. 1 to combat rising COVID-19 cases and an "inevitable" fourth wave. 

Christian Dubé made the announcement at 1 p.m. ET alongside two public health officials â€" Dr. Yves Jalbert, a strategic medical advisor, and Caroline Roy, an adviser on matters related to the COVID-19 vaccination campaign.

"Taking into account the increase in cases, the fall coming up with the back to school and back to work and the expected prevalence of the delta variant, the conditions are there to deploy the vaccination passport."

Dubé says the systems will be implemented in places with high capacity and a high rate of contact, such as festivals, bars, restaurants, gyms and training facilities to avoid the widespread closures that marked the first waves of COVID-19 in Quebec. 

For the time being, the vaccination passport will not be used in retail stores.

Dubé emphasized the system is the only way to keep the economy open and still protect the health system from being overwhelmed as it was in previous ways. He says a fourth wave, driven by the delta variant, is "inevitable" in Quebec. 

The passport will be used on an app that is being tested this week, Dubé said. Two pilot projects â€" one at a sports bar and one at a gym â€" will proceed in August to test out the use of QR codes.

People who do not have a smartphone will be able to use the paper vaccination certificates provided at vaccine centres.

'A useful tool' 

Dr. Gaston De Serres, a medical epidemiologist with the province's public health institute, believes a vaccination passport system would fare well at encouraging adults aged 20 to 39 to get vaccination. Vaccine bookings already shot up after Legault's announcement last week. 

"We need to improve the vaccine coverage in these age groups which, at the present time, is clearly insufficient," De Serres said, pointing to the group's vaccination rate sitting under the province's 75 per cent benchmark. He says this age group makes up about 50 per cent of the province's new cases. 

"So the vaccine passport in this regard is certainly a useful tool to be an incentive for people to be vaccinated." 

Quebec's civil liberties union, la Ligue des droits et libertés (LDL), though, is taking issue with the vaccine passport system, saying there has not been any time for a proper public debate and citing concerns about data security.

"One thing that bothers us right now is that the vaccine passport is being presented as if it were some kind of miracle solution," said coordinator of the LDL Catherine Descoteaux, who wants to avoid "creating a false sense of security in the population" when herd immunity has not yet been achieved in Quebec.

Quebec will be the first Canadian province to require two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to access certain services, though Manitoba and Prince Edward Island have similar measures.

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