I UNDERSTAND VACCINE PASSPORT … BUT QR CODE?

TARA COLLUM — Contributing columnist

In an episode of the sitcom Maude, staring Bea Arthur that aired almost 50 years ago, the titular character a grandmother in her late 40s needed an abortion.

That TV show is now more progressive than present day Texas and Poland, whose restrictive abortion laws are endangering human rights, women’s lives and the right to have control over our bodies.

We have the medical technology to detect any abnormalities that would make a pregnancy unviable.

There are many reasons why a woman might require an abortion, and that is up to her and her doctor, and the government can stay the hell out of it.

Unfortunately, “My body, my choice” has also become a rallying cry for people who refuse to get vaccinated.

School is starting up again and students can’t afford to have another disrupted year. The economy can’t suffer another shutdown. People are on the brink financially and emotionally.

We are seeing that vaccinated people can still get sick, but those who are unvaccinated are the ones filling up hospital beds and worse dying.

We all just need this to be over.

I understand that the Delta variant, and other developing and dangerous mutations are requiring the government to force the hands of the unvaccinated.

But a QR code? A scanned number that entitles some and casts others out?

I never thought I’d be cracking open a Bible to look for a verse, but here we are: “He required everyone — small and great, rich and poor, free and slave — to be given a mark on the right hand or on the forehead. And no one could buy or sell anything without that mark,” is a quote from the Book or Revelation.

First of all, the Bible has no place in debate about public health. Or any place at all outside of a church.

And secondly, I will be getting my vaccine passport.

But are we going to keep socially distancing, washing our hands, wearing masks and hoping for the best forever?

Biblical based fears outside, the timing is eerie. It does certainly seem end of the world adjacent with non-stop calamity, like the devastation wrought by Hurricane Ida that caused catastrophic flooding in the U.S., and transferred highways into raging rivers.

There’s just too much going on to even process. From a last-minute federal election to the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan.

A passport system seems like something that might only galvanize anti-vaxxers, uniting them further. Having a number or needing to show your papers to participate in society does seem dangerous.

While only an intended temporary measure, people who are already concerned about privacy and the government violating their rights, will probably not be too keen on showing ID, or proof of health information to go to the movies.

And what about the QR codes?

I volunteer at a $1 a meal restaurant for those in need, and many of our patrons might not even have ID, let alone a cellphone for a code to be scanned.

That people still have access to medical care, essentials and food should go without saying.

And the passport system doesn’t seem incredibly well thought-out or organized. Why are passports not needed at hair salons? Yes, their standards of cleanliness makes them exempt, but then why were they closed during lockdown?

There is a lot of name-calling and anger directed at the vaccinated. And the recent rash of mob protests at hospitals blocking exits and slowing down ambulances are unacceptable.

I don’t want society to be even more divided. I don’t want the unvaccinated to get sick.

I wish they could see the disease is worse than the vaccine meant to treat it.

I don’t want society to move on without them. And much worse leave those who can’t get the vaccine for health reasons in limbo.

We can’t force you to do something.

But we can put pressure on you until you have no choice but to agree, doesn’t seem like the best precedent to set.