psyops
==Is A Coronavirus 'Vaccination Passport' In Connecticut's Future?
Gov. Ned Lamont told NPR vaccination passports will be considered once everyone in the state has a chance to get a vaccine.==
Gov. Ned Lamont told National Public Radio listeners Wednesday that vaccination passports were something his administration "was going to look at," but not something that could be instituted before everyone in the state was at least eligible for vaccination.
The topic came up during a discussion about the reopening of senior centers, now that the vast majority of Connecticut seniors have been vaccinated.
Lamont said he believed that local businesses would likely "take the lead," citing some cruise lines' recent decisions to launch cruises for vaccinated people only.
Recent discussions with Connecticut restaurateurs touched upon them voluntarily creating vaccinated and unvaccinated eating areas, according to the governor, hearkening back to eateries' cordoned-off smoking and nonsmoking sections of a generation ago.
"These are the ways that people are beginning to think about the nature of a vaccination passport, or vaccination authentication," Lamont said. "We've got to make sure we do it respecting civil liberties and people's privacy, but I think you are going to see a lot of innovative ideas coming out of it. It will give a lot more people an incentive to get vaccinated.If you are a white male Republican and you feel a little grumpy about getting vaccinated, maybe NASCAR says you've got to be vaccinated to come in and see a race."
A spokesman for the governor told Patch his administration does not have a clear indicator of what form a vaccination passport might take, but is "awaiting what federal and private partners may develop."
Lamont made his remarks in an interview with Lucy Nalpathanchil on WNPR's "Where We Live" Wednesday morning.
Lamont said he anticipated the vaccination rollout would be getting "a little tougher over the next month, when people start feeling more relaxed and younger people don't feel the urgency to get vaccinated. I'm going to have to work really hard to get up to 80-90 percent of the people vaccinated."
Part of the new urgency in the vaccine rollout stems from the arrival of new coronavirus variants in the state. This week, 44 cases of the New York variant were reported by researchers at Yale, giving the governor a sense of déjà vu.
"I've seen this movie before. New York City sneezes, we catch cold," Lamont said, before noting he believed Connecticut's public health efforts had placed it "ahead" of the variants.
Lamont defended his age-based vaccination rollout which ostensibly disregards pre-existing conditions and comorbidities. He argued that vaccinating the elderly first was statistically the smarter decision.
"I think you are going to find that when we prioritize age we are not only taking care of those comorbidities, but [also] the most at-risk of complications and hospitalizations," Lamont said. "Remember the CDC guideline for what they called 'comorbidities or high risk' included mild obesity, included smoking, included over half the population of the state of Connecticut. If I prioritized all them, then I'm not really prioritizing anybody."
Reflecting on his pandemic regrets, Lamont said he realizes now there would have been wisdom in imposing a mask mandate earlier. But he stood his ground on the state's latest reopening phase, which saw capacity restrictions lift on most all businesses last Friday. Unlike other states who have had to reintroduce coronavirus mitigation restrictions after lifting them prematurely, Lamont credited his administration's overall caution for a steady reopening trajectory.
"We haven't been perfect, but I'm trying to be consistent," Lamont said.
Might it get worse? It can always get worse.
"If New York City goes on fire again, like what happened a year ago, and all of a sudden it starts coming up that Metro North corridor, we'll have to take a second look at where we are," Lamont said. "But I don't think that's going to happen."
https://patch.com/connecticut/danbury/coronavirus-vaccination-passport-connecticuts-future