Quarantine pass, people who have no choice but to be vaccinated should be considered [핫이슈]

The government has set the validity period of the quarantine pass to be six months and decided to take effect from December 20. The validity period of the quarantine pass was determined by adding a grace period of 1 month to the basic interval of additional vaccinations set by the Special Immunization Committee of 5 months. Jung Eun-kyung, director of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, explained on the 29th, “Currently, the basic vaccination is the standard, but the effective period of the quarantine pass has been set to reflect the diminishing effect of the vaccination over time.”

A quarantine pass is a certificate that confirms that you have completed vaccination or that you have tested negative for COVID-19. Access to multi-use facilities such as entertainment facilities is required. The problem is that if the quarantine pass is made mandatory, the basic rights of people who are inevitably not vaccinated due to underlying diseases may be infringed. A petition titled “I once again oppose the vaccine pass (anti-epidemic pass)” has been posted on the Blue House’s public petition bulletin board. The petitioner, who introduced himself as a sophomore in high school, criticized the weak points of the quarantine pass one by one. It is excessive to force vaccination in a situation where there is a risk of breakthrough infection even if the vaccine is given and side effects of the vaccine are appearing.

However, the introduction of a quarantine pass is inevitable in order to respond to ‘Omicron’, a novel coronavirus mutant virus with strong contagious power. In Switzerland, in a referendum held on the 28th, more than 60% of the people voted in favor of a bill that would allow only those who received special certification for COVID-19, such as vaccination, to attend public events and assemblies. Switzerland enacted the quarantine pass (vaccine pass) bill in March and implemented it from September, but there was controversy such as some citizens protesting against it. Recently, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases has been rapidly increasing and concerns about the spread of Omicron seem to have resulted in a large number of votes in favor.

Germany is also issuing quarantine passes for those who have completed vaccination, those who test negative, and those who have recovered after being confirmed. France and Italy are also applying quarantine passes under various names such as health pass and green pass. Although there is a difference in degree, restrictions on multi-use facilities for quarantine are being implemented. Even so, in order to protect basic human rights, we must consider minorities who are inevitably difficult to vaccinate. If you follow the basic quarantine rules, such as wearing a mask and revealing your movement, you can prevent the spread of COVID-19 with exceptions to the quarantine pass. Careful measures by the quarantine authorities are necessary.

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