Vaccine passports raise privacy, legal questions

IBM’s Excelsior Pass and apps like it that display COVID-19 vaccination status or test results are touted as tools for restoring normalcy to public life, but they also raise significant privacy and legal issues. The US government will not create or mandate digital passports, but agencies are discussing guidelines that developers could use to alleviate concerns, says White House adviser Andy Slavitt, and whether apps are subject to HIPAA privacy and security rules depends on who develops them, says attorney Savera Sandhu.