Dalhousie law professor calls potential vaccine passport system a ‘good idea’

‘If you are in contact with the public, whether you’re going to a sporting event, indoor event or travelling, it seems to me that other people do have the right to know if you’ve been fully vaccinated,’ says Wayne MacKay

HALIFAXtoday \  Chris Halef

A Dalhousie University law professor is calling the Liberal leader’s proposed vaccine passport system a controversial but good idea.

While on the election trail, Iain Rankin announced if his party is re-elected to govern Aug. 17, that they would bring in a COVID-19 vaccine certificate system called ScotiaPass.

Professor Wayne MacKay believes it’s a good idea, adding it’s hard to imagine how things can operate without knowing who’s been vaccinated and who hasn’t been.

MacKay told NEWS 95.7 fill-in host Todd Veinotte what makes this system different from others is that it has to do with the health of the general public.

“If you are in contact with the public, whether you’re going to a sporting event, indoor event or travelling, it seems to me that other people do have the right to know if you’ve been fully vaccinated,” he said.

The idea has drawn mixed reactions with opponents saying it infringes on their rights.

“At the first level of the Charter, it is in the sense that it would in some cases limit freedom of choice, liberty, limit freedom of conscience and perhaps religion in some cases,” he said.

But he says the critical part of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms is Section One.

“We can limit individual rights if it’s necessary and reasonable to do so in a free and democratic society and I think that’s the clause that would save the Charter from challenges in most cases,” said MacKay.

According to MacKay, there are some privacy concerns that come with implementing a vaccine passport system.

“Under the Nova Scotia Personal Health Information Act, you do have the right to not tell anyone else your personal health information, except in certain circumstances,” he said. “One of those exceptions, not surprisingly, is if it’s necessary to do so in order to prevent others from contracting contagious disease.”

MacKay reiterates people cannot be required to get the vaccine, but adds those who do not get it will not have the same advantages and privileges that others will have.