COVID19 UPDATE: 3.6.21 - Digital Vaccine Passports Are Coming, AND MORE

Digital Vaccine Passports Are Coming & Could BeUsed For Much More Than Travel � Robert Wheeler - https://www.prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=4594 There are currently two existing vaccine passports options, one being operational in the United States right now: Common Pass: Created by Commons Project, this health pass has been in international use since October on United and Cathay Pacific flights between New York, London, Singapore,and Hong Kong. Common Pass operates via Apple's Health app on iOS and CommonHealth for Android. It connects to 230 US health systems. It functions as a scannable QR code and can store a passenger's test or vaccine data and travel plans. IATA Travel Pass: Expected to launch in early 2021, IATA Travel Pass, is currently under development by the International Transport Association. According to the IATA website,the digital pass for travelers is: A global and standardized solution to validate and authenticate all country regulations regarding COVID-19 passenger travel requirements. If you've ever left a pet at a kennel while you travel, you may be familiar with the process of proving your animals have had their shots against things like rabies andkennel cough. Now, it appears that humans, too, will have to prove they've "gotten their shots." While we're certainly not objecting to anyone who wants the vaccine being able to get it, this push to make it essential to live a somewhat normal life is concerning fora number of reasons. New York has begun a pilot program for their vaccine passport. New York officials are testing a new mobile app that could be your ticket into places like Madison Square Garden and Barclays Center as the state slowly reopens venues forsports, concerts and other events. The Excelsior Pass works much like a so-called "vaccine passport." The app, developed in partnership with IBM, uses encrypted smartphone wallet technology to prove a person'srecent negative COVID-19 test or confirm they are fully vaccinated against the virus. Gov. Andrew Cuomo touted the app as a way to fast-track the safe reopening of theaters, stadiums and other businesses that operate in densely populated settings. "As we begin reopening the valves on different sectors of our economy, we are putting guidelines in place to ensure individuals attending events involving larger gatheringshave tested negative for COVID or have been vaccinated to avoid an outbreak of the virus," Cuomo said in a statement Tuesday. "The Excelsior Pass will play a critical role in getting information to venues and sites in a secure and streamlined way, allowingus to fast-track the reopening of these businesses and getting us one step closer to reaching a new normal." Thus far the app was tested at Brooklyn Nets game at Barclays Center on Feb. 27 and again on Tuesday during the New York Rangers game at Madison Square Garden. Of course, your personal health data will be perfectly secure. The global pandemic crackdown is continuing apace, particularly in the areas of travel Denmark and Sweden are already announcing they are developing systems for "digital vaccine certification," aka "vaccine passports." These digital certifications allow travelersto prove they have received the COVID vaccine. The plan is to create and maintain a record of anyone who wants to travel both domestically and internationally to countries that require proof of vaccination. Claims are the plan is to accelerate air travel and assist in the "revival of national economies." Morten Bodskov, Denmark's acting Finance Minister, has stated that anonline registry will be operational soon, and it should be fully in place by around June. Thomas Bustrup of the Confederation of Danish Industry told CGTN Europe he saw the registry taking the form of a phone app. The app would include the following three piecesof information: - Someone had had the vaccine - Whether a person was tested and the result of the test - Whether the person had COVID-19. If so, they may still have antibodies Sweden is also looking at a similar plan and timeframe to Denmark. Sweden's Digital Development Minister, Anders Ygeman, stated, "With a digital vaccine certificate, itwill be quick and easy to prove a completed vaccination." Attendance at sporting and cultural events may require digital vaccine certificates Both Sweden and Denmark stated the system's scope could eventually be widened to include attendance at sporting events and "cultural events." As is typical when long-planned agendas unfold, other European nations are looking at rolling out the same system. Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Iceland,Italy, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, and Spain have all announced plans to unveil a similar vaccine passport system. The European Council has also taken note of the system. However, it has yet to make any official decision, saying in a statement that: "Leaders agreed to work on a standardizedand interoperable form of proof of vaccination for medical purposes. Leaders will determine at a later stage in what circumstances these certificates could be used." The British government is also considering a vaccine passport system As The Evening Standard has reported, vaccine passports for travel are on the way. A Covid vaccination certificate that could unlock holidays abroad is on the way, the Transport Secretary disclosed today. Grant Shapps revealed that talks are under way with governments, including the United States and Singapore, and the United Nations aviation body about an international systemto help people who have had the Covid-19 jab to fly. "Just as we have things like the yellow fever card... I imagine that in the future there'll be an international system where countries will want to know that you've beenpotentially vaccinated or had tests taken before flying, before you come in," he told the BBC Radio Four Today program. But the Cabinet minister warned the public it is "too soon" to book summer holidays yet -- and he even suggested that staycations in the UK could be in doubt. "The truth is we just don't know how the virus will respond to the vaccines," he told Sky News. There is concern that it's too soon to plan for any travel yet Indeed, the British government has taken contradictory stances on vaccine passports in the past several weeks. However, CBS Travel Editor Peter Greenberg does not doubt that vaccine passports will be required to travel. "It will be required," he said. "The real question is what technologywill be available to create a universally acceptable and universally readable document that can't be forged." "Some governments are doing it," he added. "Denmark is creating a digital passport for citizens that will contain all your current medical information that can be updatableon that digital card." CNN has been promoting the idea as well. For instance, in a bizarrely written article where the author labels the concept of "vaccine passports" as "reassuring," the articleshows that documentation requiring vaccination to travel is something that is coming down the pike. CNN writes, The words "vaccine passport" have a reassuring ring to them, perhaps conjuring up the image of a sleek, embossed document with watermarked pages and official stamps of approval.Flourished at border controls, it would open travel doors that, for so many of us, have been closed by Covid-19. Some destinations -- including the Seychelles, Cyprus, and Romania -- have already lifted quarantine requirements to visitors able to prove they're vaccinated. Others, suchas Iceland and Hungary, have opened up to people who've recovered from Covid-19. This raises the prospect that proof of inoculation or immunity could be the golden ticket to rebooting travel and seems good news for people eager to book summer vacationsafter months of lockdown, particularly as vaccine rollouts gather pace. They could open up the restaurants, bars, cinemas, and other leisure and entertainment facilities whose closure over the past year have left many teetering on the edge of-- or already victim to -- financial ruin. Required vaccines and other procedures are just the beginning Requiring vaccines, biological manipulations, and medical procedures before allowing access to essential services, entertainment, or travel has been a long-held idea. Infact, conspiracy theorists tried to warn us about mandated vaccines. As early as May 2020, "Contact Tracer" and "Disease Investigator" jobs opened up across the United States, to track those who may have been exposed to COVID-19. Weekly COVIDtests were reportedly in the works for the UK offering a "Passport to Freedom." Now we finally see a vaccine passport system being rolled out, and, for many, it is surreal. As costs and difficulty mount for "proving" that you're healthy, it's a concernof many that only those with money will find their lives returning to some type of "normal." At this point, all I can say is to hold on to your hats because this ride is just beginning. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- COVID Bill A Wasted Opportunity - 90% Has Nothing To Do With Fighting The Virus – Tony Perkins - https://www.prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=4584 The bill was supposed to help America recover from COVID -- not make taxpayers sick. Unfortunately for our economy, Democrats don't seem to know the difference between arelief package and pork. The Left's 591-page excuse for a "rescue plan" is so loaded down with waste that Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) might need the $112 million Bay Area transit expansion,paid for in the bill -- just to get out of town. Most voters, she ought to know, don't appreciate being railroaded. And it shouldn't be hard to pull back the curtain on the rest of the COVID relief, thanks to the sizeable chunk of cash going to the National Endowment for the Arts. Thecontroversial group is slated for $135 million dollar bonus -- but don't expect them to play a leading role in virus containment. There's another $1.5 million for a Seaway bridge to Canada, more than $200 million for The Institute of Museum and Library Services, and $50 million in political kickbacksfor groups like Planned Parenthood. All told, experts say, only 10 percent of Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion COVID "relief" bill actually goes to fighting the pandemic. Even some Democrats are having a hard time excusing what leadership is passing off as "essential spending." New York's Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D) said on CNN he was "embarrassed"by the unrelated pork. Pressed on how he felt about the package being debated Friday, he admitted candidly, "The answer, no, I'm not comfortable with it." And he shouldn't be. Republicans have seized on the line-items, blasting Democrats for exploiting the crisis to pad their friends' pockets. "It's a disgrace that Democratsare trying to push through a bill where 90 percent of the spending doesn't actually have anything to do with COVID," one GOP strategist told Politico. "It is an absolute a slap in the face to everyone who has actually been killed, who have had their businessesdestroyed by these lockdowns." Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), like so many Americans, took real exception to Democrats using this bill as a front to bankroll abortion. In the $10 billion of foreignassistance alone, at least $745 million could be used to pay for abortions -- breaking a 47-year precedent that overseas aid can't be used to taken unborn lives. "They want to get rid of all the Hyde Amendment language," she argued. "They want to get rid of any of the provisions that would deal with no federal funding of abortionlike the Mexico City policy. All of that they just want to wipe away. They even are changing the paycheck protection program so that Planned Parenthood can apply for COVID relief loans." Blackburn says she's been on the phone non-stop with constituents in Tennessee, worried about the financial implications of such a bloated bill. "It's bad politics for them,"Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) agreed. "Because the narrative is that they're liberal, they just spend money like there's no tomorrow. And every time there's a crisis they load it up with spending." This is a pork blowout, people have pointed out, that includes $1 billion in racial justice funds for black farmers. What does that have to do with beating COVID? Heck ifRep. Austin Scott (R-Ga.) knows. "I think it's wrong. I don't understand the justification of this." Nor do conservatives seem to understand the $40 million in "Native American language preservation" or $50 million for "environmental justice." The only justice taxpayers should want is seeing this bill defeated. If it's not, Americans will be riding Pelosi's $112 million gravy train right off a fiscal cliff. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VISIT: PROPHECY WATCHER WEEKLY NEWS: HTTP://PROPHECY-WATCHER-WEEKLY-NEWS.BLOGSPOT.COM