Dirk Auer on ‘Vaccination Passports’

La Libre Belgique – ICLE Senior Fellow of Law & Economics Dirk Auer was quoted by the Belgian newspaper La Libre Belgique about proposals to require certificates of vaccination against COVID-19 as a prerequisite for international travel. You can read the full piece (in the original French) here.

‘Je pense qu’il y a deux constats importants : on traverse une crise d’une ampleur jamais vue, et la solution pour le moment, c’est le confinement, jusqu’au moment où on arrivera à vacciner une masse critique de la population. Or, on peut faire le pari que peut-être suffisamment de personnes se vaccineront – ou peut-être pas. Le passeport vaccinal, c’est mettre aujourd’hui en place les bases qui permettront de maximiser le nombre de personnes qui se feront vacciner à court et moyen terme. C’est la solution intermédiaire qui met les gens en face de leur responsabilité tout en préservant leur liberté.’

[ENGLISH TRANSLATION] ‘Two things are clear: the world is going through an unprecedented crisis, and life will only return to normal when a critical mass of people have been vaccinated. Some policymakers think that this critical mass can be attained without additional incentive mechanisms, but they could be wrong. Vaccine passports would maximize the number of people who voluntarily get inoculated in the medium and short term. They are a middle ground that would make people internalize the social costs of their decisions, while maintaining their freedom to choose.’