As we told you yesterday, Staples and Office Depot are offering free lamination services for those who have a COVID-19 vaccination card. Others, however, are willing to go even further by offering you a completely phony vaccination card...for a price.

Maybe you're wondering a couple of things, like why would you need your vaccination card laminated, and why would someone pay a criminal for a fake vaccination card?

It seems that both questions have the same answer, or at least a variation on the same answer. It's because there's some serious talk (and action, in New York) going on about requiring you to produce proof of vaccination before engaging in certain activities like boarding a plane, visiting a school or hospital, attending a concert or sporting event, and other things that bring groups of people into the same area or space. That form of proof is being called a "Vaccine Passport."

New York's new addition to the vaccine card/passport is called the Excelsior Pass, and according to a report in USA Today, it will be accepted at dozens of event, arts and entertainment venues statewide. It already lets people increase the size of a wedding party, or other catered event.

USA Today:

As they would with an airline boarding pass, people will be able to prove their health status with a digital QR code – or "quick response" machine-readable label. They'll need to download the Excelsior Pass app, enter their name, date of birth, and ZIP code, and answer a series of personal questions to confirm their identity. The data will come from the state's vaccine registry and will be linked to testing data from a number of pre-approved testing companies.

You can see the profit potential when you think about the number of people who are still not convinced that the COVID-19 vaccination is something that they want to do. Why go and get shots you don't want when there's this guy who'll sell you a card that says you're good to go?

Because that guy isn't just working off the idea of profiting only once from you. He's going to make even more money when he steals your I.D. and charges lots of things to your accounts, and more money still when he passes along your personal information to someone else who has ideas on making money off of your name and identification.

Where does the issue of vaccine passports stand here in Illinois? It's being considered in several different forms, but there hasn't been a consensus yet on how it would work. ABC-7 News Chicago reports that Chicago doesn't have one...yet.

ABC-7 Chicago:

However, Chicago is far from launching its own vaccine passport, with Mayor Lori Lightfoot voicing some of her concerns.
"Obviously, there's a lot of privacy issues that have to be addressed before that becomes a certainty," the mayor said. "I don't think we are close to that now, but that's been a discussion for some time."

 

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