China, the Global Health Passport and Our Privacy

A recent article in the Global Times, the unofficial voice of the Communist Party of China provides us with some insight into where our post-pandemic world is headed and the role that China might play in our future "freedom".

 

In the March 9, 2021 edition of the Global Times, we find this:

 

Here are some quotes with my bolds:

 

"Chinese experts noted on Tuesday that China can help by sharing its experience with and provide technical support to the WHO to organize the issue, as China is the most experienced country in using a health code system in the world while the WHO is the most proper organizer for the matter to ensure independence, fairness and data security.

 

Technology would not be a problem, Chinese experts said, noting that if the international community unites to promote the work, a platform can be established within 2-3 months and, optimistically, can be used for the Tokyo Olympic Games scheduled between July 23 and August 8.

 

"In terms of technology, I believe that Chinese companies can build an international platform in just one week, but it is better that the WHO, rather than any country or regional organization, be the organizer to ensure the independence, fairness and data security of the platform," Xiang Ligang, director-general of the Beijing-based Information Consumption Alliance, told the Global Times on Tuesday."

 

The article notes that the World Health Organization can draft the rules, procedures and data format for the passports while China would use its experience in data sharing.  

 

To put this development into context, just the day before, China announced this:

 

 

On March 7, 2021, China launched its international travel health certificate which contains an encrypted QR code that can be scanned by the relevant departments of nations around the world to vermin its authenticity and read the personal information that is included.  The certificate includes the following information:

 

1.) nucleic acid test results.

 

2.) serum antibody test results.

 

3.) vaccine inoculation information.

 

Here is a quote from the article:

 

"In the era of epidemic normalization and the post-epidemic era, the importance of health factors in international personnel exchanges will become more prominent. In the near future, as more and more countries reach mutual recognition of health certificates with China, the Chinese version of international travel health certificates will play a greater role in promoting healthy, safe and orderly exchanges of transnational personnel, and provide Chinese citizens a solid guarantee when traveling across the world, the Foreign minister (Wang Yi) said....

 

Wang also said that China is willing to discuss with other countries the mutual recognition of COVID-19 vaccinations, which would be helpful to resume people-to-people exchanges in a safe and orderly way."

 

Given that China is home to the social credit scoring system, one has to wonder whether we really want China to be in charge of a database and passport system that is most likely to ultimately contain far more than personal health information related to the COVID-19 pandemic.  With China having the technology which allows them to conduct mass surveillance on its citizens as shown here:

....and here:

...governments around the world are likely rubbing their hands with glee thinking that this may just be the answer to their pressing need to know everything about us and track our every move.

Do we want this as our future?

Tony Blair's COVID-19 Pass - Following the Money

Former United Kingdom Prime Minister Tony Blair has been reappearing in the media, touting the need for a global COVID travel pass.  In this posting, we'll examine Blair's pet project, his links to the world's wealthiest and a reason why he may be promoting the idea of a pass as part of our post-pandemic "new normal".   

 

Let's start with this video showing Blair waxing prophetic back in June 2020 on a "digital ID" and how the COVID-19 pandemic has brought the need forward to prove their disease status to the world at large:

 

 

Here is the front-page for the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change website:

 

Here is Tony Blair discussing the COVID-19 pandemic, the damage being caused by governments's response to the pandemic and three recommendations for moving forward to minimize further damage:

 

Here is a paper that appeared on the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change website:

 

Here are some quotes from the paper with my bolds:

 

"The Covid-19 pandemic and the ensuing lockdowns and travel bans have led to the most profound de-connecting of society since the Second World War.1 Reconnecting the world, by means of reopening international travel, is going to require a coordinated effort that manages the risks of Covid-19 and offers uniform standards on testing and vaccines across borders.

 

The emergence of several new strains of Covid-19, specifically the strains out of Kent, South Africa and Brazil, have added an additional dimension to discussions surrounding the reopening of global travel. The fact that Covid-19 mutates is not unique – all viruses do – but this virus’s mutations have included some which are much more transmissible and could potentially elude vaccines in the future.

 

In response to these new strains, the UK has introduced its strictest quarantine measures of the pandemic, including the recent reports that some inbound travellers will need to quarantine at a hotel for ten days upon arrival. It is important that the government has a plan to implement an effective process for lifting these restrictions and reenabling safe international travel as soon as possible. To facilitate this, an international Covid Pass is inevitable. In some instances travel passes are already a reality, and when they are absent – such as the disruption caused to hauliers crossing the English Channel in December 2020 after France temporarily closed its border –we have seen the human and economic consequences. The UK faces a choice: lead or be led. If we choose to wait, a confusing array of different passports await our citizens. We can avoid this and the complications of multiple passes and varying travel requirements if the UK takes the lead on developing a single, global Covid Pass. In the year of the UK’s G7 presidency, there has never been a more momentous opportunity – or need – for the government to show global leadership. This paper sets out recommendations on what that would look like....

  

As mass-vaccination campaigns roll out across the globe at dramatically different paces, disparities are already emerging between countries – with significant implications for the normalisation of international travel. Even within countries, short to medium term, there will be distinctions between those who have been vaccinated and those who have not. The only way to navigate allowing people to travel internationally again will be for travellers to show their current status on Covid-19. This must include a traveller’s vaccine status and/or testing status.

 

For these reasons, we recommend the government urgently seeks to put in place a global Covid-19 travel pass, compatible across international travel systems. The UK should then lead global efforts to see this pass approved and introduced around the world."

  

Here are the recommendations made by the authors of the paper:

 

"We call on the UK, under its G7 presidency, to establish a working group that brings together health and transport ministers from the world’s largest economies, the World Health Organisation, and key organisations including The Commons Project Foundation , IATA and technology providers. This group should be convened now and by 1 June 2021, deliver:

 

1.) A global travel pass framework that allows countries to develop their own, interoperable digital and paper-based solutions

2.) Shared global standards on the types and validity of the vaccinations and tests that can be used to allow for international travel to resume safely.

3.) International agreement that validation of a vaccination or test that meets these standards would satisfy entry into a country"

 

As I am prone to do, take a closer look at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change by following the money.  Here is a list of the partners of the Institute with one particular supporter being highlighted:

 

According to the grant search function on the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation website, we have the following donations to the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change and Tony Blair's other projects:

 

Since 2014, Tony Blair's pet projects have received at least $21.8 million from the Gates Foundation.  With Microsoft being a key player in the Vaccination Credential Initiative as shown here:

 

...it is pretty clear why Tony Blair is hard-selling the "necessity" of having COVID-19 passports as part of our "new post-COVID-19 normal", particularly since Bill Gates is still a significant Microsoft shareholder (1.36 percent of outstanding shares).  It's clearly an oligarchic "you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours" relationship.

 

It would appear that the man responsible for the U.K.'s misguided entry into the war in Iraq hopes that his fellow Brits have forgotten all about his past misdeeds and will move forward on his recommendation for a COVID-19 travel pass.  Oh yes, and totally ignore his relationship with the world's foremost untrained vaccine promoter, Bill Gates.

 

Vaccine Passports - The Next Act in the COVID-19 Saga

While, like Australia and New Zealand, the United Kingdom seems to have taken anti-COVID measures to extreme levels, a recent comment from Dominic Raab, the U.K. Foreign Secretary should cause us all to ponder the future that may exist should governments continue down the road to complete totalitarianism.

 

Let's start by looking at some background information.  In mid-January 2021, HealthcareITNews reported the following:

 

According to the article, the U.K. was entering the initial live testing stage for the nations newly-developed COVID-19 immunity and vaccination passport.  The passport is being developed by iProve, a facial biometric authentication company and Mvine, a deep technology solutions provider.  The passport will enable a user's COVID-19 test results and vaccination status to be registered, privately of course.  Innovate UK, the government funder has spent £74,270 on the project as shown here:

 

Note that the funding period for this project began on June 20, 2020 suggesting that the Johnson government has long had plans for a COVID-19 digital passport as part of its response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

  

Here is the announcement of the trial phase for the COVID-19 passport from Mvine:

 

The system will not capture or store identity data, rather, it will use an "abstract model of the user's face" that "uses AI to work out a set of numbers which represent them and which cannot be mistaken for anyone else".  This will then be linked to the reference number on their vaccine or test results.  Phase 2 trials are scheduled to be completed by the end of March 2021 so that the passport can be rolled out quickly as the number of vaccinated British citizens rises.

 

Let's look at the rationale behind the COVID-19 passport.  The passport is designed to "prove" a person's COVID-19 status, allowing the "...easing of restrictions on people meeting by reducing the risk of contagion, enabling families and friends to meet, employees to return to work in-person and businesses to open sooner and more responsibly.".  That certainly has the appearance of a government-supplied "carrot", doesn't it?  Another word might be "coercion".

 

Let's close this section of the posting with this from The Guardian on February 7, 2021:

 

Now, with all of this in mind, let's look at a recent interview with Dominic Raab, the United Kingdom's Foreign Secretary.  The interview was held on February 14, 2021 on LBC (Leading Britain's Conversation) with Tom Swarbrick (key comments found at the 43 minute 48 second mark):

 

Swarbrick - "Just back on the vaccine passports.  Clearly this is something that 's going to have to be agreed internationally which the government is now making signs that it's looking at.  What's though to stop a company in this country demanding that in order to enter a restaurant or in order to go into a pub in the future that someone predicted a document saying that they've go at vaccine?" 

 

Raab - "Well, in terms of the law that would apply that's something that's the prerogative of the government and parliament but what we want to do is make sure that there's enough confidence in the national roll-out that when we're in a position to open non-essential retail and in due course after that hospitality.  People can do son confidently the modalities and the mechanisms we of course all that need to be worked out and the Prime Minister I said will give a clear sense of the direction of travel so domestically it won't be needed." 

 

Swarbrick - "You don't think a domestic vaccine passport where you have to show a bit of paper to go into a supermarket or something like that?"

 

Raab - "Well, it's something that hasn't been ruled out .  It's under consideration but, of course, you've got to make it workable.   Whether it's at an international, domestic or local level, you've got to know that the document being presented is something that you can rely on and that it's an accurate reflection of the status of the individual."

 

So, there you have it.  One of the world's most advanced economies is considering implementing a vaccine/COVID-19 passport system that will be a requirement for everyday life, despite its protestations (and/or lies) to the contrary.  Given that governments are rarely composed of original thinkers, those of us living in the so-called advanced nations can pretty much assure ourselves that, once the United Kingdom imposes this new reality on its citizens, the rest of our so-called elected leaders are sure to follow like a herd of sheep.