Digital Health Passports, for me, has been a subject of much scrutiny over these past few months. I’ve often speculated that I could see the technology become widely used in society in tandem with the COVID-19 vaccine and with the recent news of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine which they stated is 90% effective, many are beginning preparations to incorporate testing and vaccination in various areas of everyday life.
Below are articles on a few different digital health passes which are worth paying attention to:
The purpose of this technology is to promote safety during the coronavirus pandemic, which makes sense. However, once it becomes the norm, the fear may be that it could then be a means to cause people to acquiesce to the system just as we’re seeing with masks. With the recent news that airlines and ticketmaster want to incorporate a testing, vaccination system via a digital health pass, it’s clear that we may soon see this for restaurants, stores, workplaces, and other areas of life.
In the first article, it brings up the CommonPass Health Passport which is backed by both the World Economic Forum (WEF) and the Rockefeller Foundation. This should catch our attention when we understand that the WEF has called for a “great reset” and that the Rockefeller Foundation is a part of the ID2020 Alliance whose goal is to get everyone on earth a digital identity. It seems to me that the ambitions of the WEF and ID2020 Alliance is well underway.
Airline alliances urge testing over quarantines
From ABC News: FRANKFURT, Germany — Three global airline alliances are urging governments to put into practice common guidelines for passenger testing and digital health pass technology, to help people start flying again. Oneworld, Star Alliance and SkyTeam said testing could be part of an overall approach to restart international travel, by reducing reliance on the “blunt instrument” of quarantines aimed at halting the spread of the coronavirus.
New testing guidelines from the United Nations’ International Civil Aviation Authority could “pave the way for a framework of trust to be established between countries,” Star Alliance CEO Jeffrey Goh said in the joint statement on the oneworld.com website. Oneworld CEO Rob Gurney and SkyTeam CEO Kristin Colvile joined in the statement.
The alliances — representing 58 member airlines — cited recent tests of the CommonPass digital health pass, which uses a smartphone app to securely verify that passengers have complied with health requirements, whether these be a test or a future vaccine. Airlines and their industry group, the International Air Transport Association, have urged the use of commonly agreed testing procedures instead of quarantines.
So far there have been different approaches to, and experiments with, testing requirements, with quarantines and travel restrictions remaining in use — and international air travel down 92% on pre-COVID-19 levels. The reduction in travel has hit a wide range of travel-related businesses and jobs, such as airport workers, hotel employees and taxi drivers. Testing presents a number of challenges, including how long it takes to get a result, possible false positives or false negatives, and people who may be infected but only test positive several days later. Read More
How Ticketmaster Plans to Check Your Vaccine Status for Concerts: Exclusive
From Billboard: Monday’s news that pharmaceutical company Pfizer’s early results on a new COVID-19 vaccine showed a 90% efficacy rate on an initial clinical trial have given concert professionals hope that the business can start mounting a return in 2021. As part of that preparation, Ticketmaster has been working on a framework for post-pandemic fan safety that uses smart phones to verify fans’ vaccination status or whether they’ve tested negative for the coronavirus within a 24 to 72 hour window.
Many details of the plan, which is still in development phase, will rely on three separate components — the Ticketmaster digital ticket app, third party health information companies like CLEAR Health Pass or IBM’s Digital Health Pass and testing and vaccine distribution providers like Labcorp and the CVS Minute Clinic. Here’s how it would work, if approved: After purchasing a ticket for a concert, fans would need to verify that they have already been vaccinated (which would provide approximately one year of COVID-19 protection) or test negative for coronavirus approximately 24 to 72 hours prior to the concert.
The length of coverage a test would provide would be governed by regional health authorities — if attendees of a Friday night concert had to be tested 48 hours in advance, most could start the testing process the day before the event. If it was a 24-hour window, most people would likely be tested the same day of the event at a lab or a health clinic. Once the test was complete, the fan would instruct the lab to deliver the results to their health pass company, like CLEAR or IBM.
If the tests were negative, or the fan was vaccinated, the health pass company would verify the attendee’s COVID-19 status to Ticketmaster, which would then issue the fan the credentials needed to access the event. If a fan tested positive or didn’t take a test to verify their status, they would not be granted access to the event. There are still many details to work out, but the goal of the program is for fans to take care of vaccines and testing prior to the concert and not show up hoping to be tested onsite. Read More
Prophetic Implications
Based on what the Bible tells us is coming and what we see occurring in the world around us, we as believers can make an educated guess as to how things may proceed. This by no means mean we will be correct, but it does mean that thanks to God’s word we know what the “end game” so to speak looks like and also have a rough roadmap of how things may proceed towards this aforementioned end.
He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. (Revelation 13:16-17)
The Bible’s clear in Revelation 13:16-17 that there is a system that will be put in place during the tribulation period that will demand for people to meet its conditions to participate in society, or be shut out of it and killed if you refuse. This is the mark of the beast system which will have everyone on earth under its authority. Right now, we’ve been living in a system where wearing a mask is necessary to enter a public establishment. Essentially, “no mask, no service”.
Soon, once the vaccines are ready to distribute and airports, concerts, stadiums, workplaces, restaurants, banks, and stores have set up their COVID-19 testing and vaccine verification systems via digital health passes, we will see the same thing occur; “no test result (or vaccination), no service”. I firmly believe what’s occurring today is both conditioning society to accept this as the “new normal” and also lay the groundwork for the coming mark of the beast system.
For us believers, this serves as further indication that we’re in the season of the Lord’s return and that although the tribulation is casting a large shadow in our time like never before, this should also give us a renewed hope and excitement as the rapture of the church precedes it!
Sources
- Airline alliances urge testing over quarantines (November 11th, 2020) – ABC News
- How Ticketmaster Plans to Check Your Vaccine Status for Concerts: Exclusive (November 11th, 2020) – Billboard
- Pfizer says early data signals its COVID-19 vaccine is 90% effective (November 9th, 2020) – The Times of Israel