Are COVID-19 Immunity Passports Feasible?

Immunity passports could be implemented on the basis of either a laboratory test of an immune response or an immunizing event from infection or vaccination, which would identify individuals less likely to get the COVID-19 disease or transmit the virus when exposed to the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, said a report published in The Lancet on October 16, 2020.

These researchers identified important immunological issues for such passports, such as (1) the degree of immunity induced (an immune response might only attenuate disease severity, or might prevent any symptomatic disease and even pathogen carriage, which is necessary for herd immunity) and (2) the duration of immunity.

And, critics of immunity passports point to persisting uncertainties about the immune response to COVID-19, claiming that “COVID-19 immunity is a mystery” and that this uncertainty makes immunity passports unfeasible.