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93 Comments
sakurasuki
Discount it might be Ok
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2021/08/11/business/japan-vaccine-discounts/
Other than discount it will be another new discrimination in Japan based on vaccine status.
JeffLee
LOL. Gotta love old-fashioned/analog Japan. Don't forgot your hanko!
Usually when I've tried to use discount programs in Japan, I run into so many rules and conditions, that I don't bother.
Monty
I received that vaccine passport already from the City Hall of my ward.
It was very easy to apply, because my first business trip overseas, since Corona, is coming soon.
You can apply online on your ward's homepage or do it by post, but then you have to a add a stamped return envelop.
If we could really get some benefits from the vaccine passports, that would be cool.
Free entry to a Soapland. Lol.
divinda
So here it comes.
Lost of interesting "considerations" this week, probably due to the unique timing of the Olympics/Paralympics being fully complete, a general election looming, and Suga now sitting as a so-called "lame duck" PM, but in reality a good time to push through questionable policies with only minimal ramifications, whether about vaccine passports, new SOE procedures, re-opening borders, record high defense budgets, or even solidifying the male-lineage throne.
Once its all passed, if things go awry and/or people complain, they can blame Suga and all the other old boys who are retiring, but the new incoming PM and government will be relatively shielded
snowymountainhell
Another systematic way to get small businesses to comply, monitor the exact amount of customers visiting and then, taxing the hell out of them for being compliant in the first place.
No surprises here. AND, another 2-5% raise is the consumption tax is also forthcoming.
Mr Kipling
Sounds like a good plan. Those in the medical, education and social welfare fields should be no jab... no job.
Jobs involving public contact should also think about this. As for "passports" to enter places... I'd leave that up the business owners, but those not complying would have to have stricter social distancing measures and checks in place ..At least until the pandemic ends. Make life as difficult as possible for the anti vax cultists.
Jay
Ok. So I assume they will also be refusing entry to anyone that has not been vaccinated against influenza, tuberculosis, mumps, chickenpox, measles, etc. too?
People were vulnerable to a whole range of things long before Covid ever came along, and yet those risks (and deaths) were deemed acceptable or, more importantly, "that's life."
kurisupisu
Japan had better get its act together-it is always considering, never doing!
Meiyouwenti
There’s no point in issuing vaccine passports when many of those fully vaccinated are getting infected. With such passports, they would walk around freely and spread the virus to those who have not been fully vaccinated.
blue in green
Invasion of privacy, and medical discrimination are against the constitution.
There were anti-olympic protests, but if this gets any traction, I think this will really get people in the streets.
Imagine how people will react knowing the govt is trying to control their every move.
akadake
Vaccinated transmit the virus the same way as nonvaccinated. Vaccine passports are not about health. All governments happily copy chinese social-score system, which will be introduced under "vaccine passport" name.
Sanjinosebleed
1984
Paul
If they do that, they will also need to make a passport for people who are unable to be vaccinated due to allergies or other conditions and be able to get a weekly PCR test for free!!!
Oxycodin
Thanks
Happy Day
Jay, right on the money. It has nothing to do with health.
Give them credit, though, for trying to make it sound legitimate. The passport is intended to “regularize domestic social and economic activities.”
Huh?
How about just remove all restrictions already for a country that is on track to have a lower mortality rate for the second year in a row.
Hervé L'Eisa
Papers! Get your papers! Show us your papers!
This is a power grab and a throwback to the tyranny of the '40s. Soviet Japan?
maxjapank
I suspect that there will be pushback. But according to the latest research, those who are vaccinated are much less likely to be infected than those who aren't. Similarly, those who are vaccinated are much less likely to require medical care than those who are not. Those who still do not want to get vaccinated by choice do have that choice, but businesses should have a choice as to who to do business with.
Yrral
He cannot block, court has ruled
Gobshite
Any place requiring this will not get my business. This is a step too far
Oxycodin
The new world order has begun to hit faster than ever reading this article.
theResident
@Meiyouwenti: Then the unvaccinated better hurry up and get jabbed or get left behind to a world of no entry signs.
@Gobshite - I'm pretty sure they won't be bothered to miss your business with that attitude.
commanteer
Unlikely to have much effect on Covid-19, but a great gateway for the government to require all citizens carry their "papers." So many here are looking forward to it. Once they establish the precedent, such passports can be used to enforce any number of social rules. Start with vaccinations, and more of this will keep coming (great money for the pharmaceutical companies), then add on tax compliance and child support. Then proceed to a social credit score like China. People with higher scores on their passports get more access and better deals. People with low scores may get worse deals or be unable to fly, etc.
This is not a slippery slope theory - this progression is obvious to anyone who is paying attention.
didou
I can do a lot of things now that will be banned next year if I do not vaccinate. It is called discrimination.
Moreover, I had the yellow fever, meningitis, hepatitis B, tetanus vaccine, etc etc, Much more then the average Taro...... Does it count ?
didou
It happened in nightclubs in Europe
yakyak
A vaccine passport equals the end of your freedom as we know it. A very dangerous and silly idea designed to test how easy it will be to control billions of people on the planet. Hopefully, it fails miserably and the people will take their power back.
Gooch
Here it comes. Fascism pure and simple. But people talking about this a year ago were "conspiracy theorists."
Or maybe it won't, if enough of us actively resist this surveillance society posing as protective measures. If you're not eligible to vote. get your Japanese family and friends to lobby their local Diet members to oppose this before it can be passed, especially with an election coming up.
Fighto!
Crybaby anti-vaxxers crying already. "Its just like China/1984/Nazi Germany/The Soviet Union..." "Its not fair!"..."It's tyranny!"..."Big brother is gonna inject us with microchips!"...
Oh, get a grip.
Just get the jab like most people if you want freedoms. Stay home forever if you want to be an anti-vaxxer conspiracy theorist. Your choice.
Oxycodin
I agree @gooch. Too many are sleeping not knowing what is really happening behind the scenes. I’m sure Japan did not create this vaccine passport plan.
maxjapank
Many countries and even schools refuse entry to people who haven't been vaccinated against some diseases. I remember a Japanese exchange student who somehow entered the U.S. without having been vaccinated against tuberculosis. Luckily, the college she was attending found out and she was immediately quarantined.
yakyak
How about live your life freely, take care of yourself and be respectful to others. That does not require being vaccinated. my choice.
Strangerland
No you weren't. The government was bringing it up as an idea a year ago, and most of us were supportive of it.
And we still are.
Nice attempt at reverse-engineering a conspiracy though.
Ronin Tsukebin
Oxycodin I agree with you. I have been reading the comments by people who have no idea why this vaccine passport has been implemented and increasing in scope. To us it is so obvious. It is frustrating that there are so many that are so dull, obtuse and undiscerning in this world who just think everything is must be legit if they see it on TV. It is also very sad and I truly fear for the future of humanity.
Gobshite
This failed government has messed up the vaccine rollout. My wife is still waiting, no sign of a booking for months ahead. So you are saying because of J gov incompetence she will be prevented from doing things?
There is no "hurry up and get vaccinated", she calls the useless city office regularly.
And if somehow a miracle happens, and everyone gets the jab, exactly what will a "passport" achieve? That's easy, nothing, zip, nada.
theResidentToday 08:49 am JST
@Meiyouwenti: Then the unvaccinated better hurry up and get jabbed or get left behind to a world of no entry signs.
@Gobshite - I'm pretty sure they won't be bothered to miss your business with that attitude.
stormcrow
Excellent idea! If you don’t like it, get vaccinated!
Kyle
Oh here it comes.
The "Me Vaccinated" campaign with a cute little smiling syringe on a button that we can wear. hahaha
OssanAmerica
Why are some people going on about "discrimination"?
Offering discounts to those who have been vaccinated is simply an incentive to get vaccinated. In case reducing the probabilty of catching covid, getting hospitalized, ending up on a ventilator and possibly dying, or recovering but carrying aftereffects that may haunt the rest of your life is insufficient incentive.
It does not "discriminate" against those not vaccinated.
divinda
Firstly, I intend to get vaccinated (I'm finally scheduled for 1st shot in a few weeks).
But what is the purpose for a vaccine passport, if it isn't for some form of social credit, discrimination, or other control?
If it's for protecting people, then who?
Is it to protect the people who are vaccinated, or to protect those who chose to be unvaccinated?
If the vaccines were effective then the people who are vaccinated have nothing to fear regardless of any passport.
Therefore the only reason to exclude unvaccinated people would be in order to protect them from other unvaccinated people... but they will still interact on trains, buses, streets, and wherever else "allowed".
But as we know, the vaccines are not fully effective, so then, again, what is the point of segregation, because it isn't going to protect an uninfected vaccinated person from an infected but vaccinated person. If anything, it will give them a false sense of security where people take their guard down... and just lead to more infections.
Yet no doubt, once established, the social control passport system will still be in place even if it's deemed ineffective or unnecessary.
Strangerland
Protecting people from covid.
Both.
Faulty logic that falls apart with any scrutiny.
No vaccinae has ever been "fully" effective. These vaccines are more effective than almost any ever.
divinda
Then how does this segregation protect people?
If it was based on an on-the-spot PCR Covid test (not 2 or 3 days prior), it would be quite effective.
But if its based on vaccination, then the effect would be minimal.
Strangerland
Why are you asking me, some dude on the internet, when the information is out there, readily available, well explained by scientists, and public knowledge? This isn't a secret, or even a conspiracy. A very simple google can get you that answer.
The idea that you'd come to me rather than go to the experts I think very clearly exemplifies the reason why you are so misguided on the things you are saying.
divinda
Then humor me and everyone else here you are at odds with by actually giving an answer if its such a simple thing.
Look around at how so many vaccinated people are still getting this virus.
It's already being understood by many scientist that catching Covid is essentially going to be an inevitability for almost everyone on earth, both the vaccinated and unvaccinated.
How is a vaccine passport going to stop this?
The question should be "do you want to catch it while vaccinated or unvaccinated?"
John
Who is this "Japan" person ?
Nameless unelected people who do not ride the trains or run a business?
divinda
And by the way, the first hit on google for "effectiveness of vaccine passport" is this:
Clarity still needed on effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccine passports, says UN health agency
published on the actual UN website
https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/04/1089082
“At this stage, we would not like to see vaccination passports as a requirement for entry or exit because we are not sure at this stage that the vaccine prevents transmissions,” said WHO spokesperson Dr Margaret Harris
stormcrow
Over 99% of those selfishly taking up hospital space and dying in hospitals of COVID in the USA are the unvaccinated. Have some of you heard this, or do you have your heads buried in the sand? The evidence is so crystal clear. Why can’t you see it?
theResident
@Ego Sum Whatever: Warned? I couldn't care less if it lets me on a plane or in a bar again! Never been against it. If you are so worried about your digital footprint, I don't think you'd been using this website. would you?
theResident
@stormcrow - Because they read stupid websites and watch stupid YouTube videos and think they are being given Bovine Fetal Serum, African Green Money DNA. Seriously! Or...they could just be scared of the needle.
blahblah222
Considering only the elites and the privileged have access to the vaccines, while rest of us common people can only access it via a lottery and highly unlikely to access it within this year or anytime in the near future, vaccine passports and discounts are massively unfair, and exacerbates inequality in vaccine distribution.
Strangerland
Vaccine passports should not be implemented until everyone who wants to be vaccinated can freely do so by walking into a clinic for five minutes.
But there doesn't appear to be a date for the passports to begin as part of the draft of this bill at the moment, so I don't think you have to worry just yet.
theResident
@blahblah222. As of Septemer 2nd, 73 million people have had a first dose and 59 million both. You're 'elites' and 'privileged' argument wears a little thin at this point. Alternatively, you also think these numbers are a lie or conspiracy too.
Flute
@Ronin Tsukebin
You mean there was no research/articles/... about how some organism are aiming at destabilizing other ones ? So stunned.
Obviously, the current pandemic is used as a destabilization tools against democracy by some. I mean, there was actually people which are stating democracy is not good to handle pandemic. Vaccination is too.
If one want to complain about immunization pass just go complain to anti-vaxxer. People refusing medical care are not new and they accept the consequences, same for anti-vaxxer. But now, we have a new bunch expecting their choice have no consequences, play warfare of information, ... in the end play the useful idiot. Not that the other side is any better. We are in the middle of to divide to rule. And everyone has its limit about being open minded.
We all saw the effect of the pandemic and our country ability to deal with it. We had and have a bunch of people having to stay home without medical care even thought they were in no shape (I remember that in Japan : 35degree, 70% humidity is seen as mild weather perfect to do your best at sport ; should help sink the illness version of mild) &co. We can not handle so many cases, we need to contain the virus. We can not have : we do not want to wear mask, we do not want to be vaccinated, we do not want to have any life limitation, ... ; that just do not work.
If we are lucky and everyone do their part the immunization passport will have limited life expectancy. If you do not want to be vaccinated, do not be and accept the consequences : you could have to take test to prove you are not infected to access some place, you could not be offered some discount, you could be requested to take additional measure, you could have to sign waiver, you could be liable from some form of overcost, ... meaning there are some place you could have better not to go to. As long as you can still satisfy to your basic needs (potentially having to use remote option), I do not get the over-buaaaing.
Strangerland
These passports are overwhelming supported by the majority. Some of the minority are starting to react with violence to these passports. Are you one of those that supports or denounces violence by a minority in order to push their agenda on the majority?
Sheikh Yerboaby
"...The certificates are official records issued free of charge by local municipalities showing a person has been fully inoculated against COVID-19, with information such as name, passport number and date of vaccination also included.
People who wish to obtain a certificate are required to submit in person or via mail documents, including the application form, passport and vaccination tickets....."
if only there was the technology to have some sort of electronic device that we carried easily and unobtrusively in our pockets everyday that showed the vaccine status of the holder, perhaps through a unique barcode or IC chip technology, that could be scannable if the proprietors had such equipment.........if ONLY we lived in the future......
Sheikh Yerboaby
FYI vaccine "passports" are nothing new.......you have had to show that you have received vaccinations to certain diseases before traveling to many countries around the tropics. It seems they are new to faux-outraged snowflakes of the western country variety.
Sheikh Yerboaby
@BlahBlahBlah
I have both my shots and I don't live in Minato-ku or anywhere in Tokyo......I had to book mines at a clinic in Shin-Yokohama, they will take people who do not live in Yokohama as long as you have the coupons issued by your home municipality.....for the record, I do not live in Yokohama either.
Flute
@blahblah222
Could you please stop it. For lot of people getting vaccinated is not easy and we know that but there is no need to discourage yourself or try to discourage others. Kept it up and you will manage to find a spot. We rot for you.
(I double checked with my spiders, they agreed so "we" is fine)
@Gobshite
Perhaps with the place of residency and age bracket of your wife some people knowing the situation on site could give you tip. At random, I will tell you to browse large.
For example in Osaka prefecture : you can be vaccinated in your city/area municipality center and clinics (some accept only their patients some accept everybody) ; the prefectoral center and the JSDF one.
There is also some private players stepping up in different places around Japan : there was an article about a pachinko, Yolo did it too, ...
If none of you is fluent in japanese, perhaps you should go to your city hall, foreign center if there is one, government free japanese lessons if they are offered, ... you could possibly get some help and tips.
Do not desperate, she will manage to get an appointment.
dan
This is unacceptable!!
I think a demo is in order !!
Concerned Citizen
Vaccine passports like this will result in a two tiered discriminatory society based on personal medical decisions. An abuse of bodily autonomy and the basic human right to make one's own medical decisions without compulsion by the government or anyone else.
stormcrow
My grandmother's sister died of tuberculosis many, many years ago. Those everybody stayed miles away from your house if TB was in the household. They didn't know what TB was exactly back in those days, but they knew that it was airborne. Then I had a cousin who had polio, he lived but suffered a great deal. Now there are vaccines which have almost eliminated these diseases. Vaccines are good. Dr. Fauci recently discussed how these diseases and others would still be with us today had those previous generations had today's social media. I agree. The only thing stopping us from eradicating the Coronavirus is us. If enough people don't get vaccinated, then this nasty little virus will mutate and evolve into new variants which may be more difficult or next to impossible to stop. How would you like to walk around like a scuba diver with an air tank strapped to your back as you go about your daily business? It may seem funny and ridiculous to imagine, but this could go from bad to worse really fast. It already has in the form of the Delta Virus, but what if the Delta Virus becomes something even worse? Then we'll need a new name like the Helter Skelter Virus. The way things stand now, the unvaccinated are holding everybody back. Again, over 99% of those dying in America of COVID are the unvaccinated, not the vaccinated. True, the vaccinated are becoming infected with COVID, but they aren't dying! That's a great thing, isn't it? Of course special exceptions should be made for those who suffer from allergies or asthma, but there is no reason why healthy people should not get vaccinated. For yourself, for those too young and for those with allergies or asthma, get vaccinated. Otherwise, this is just going to get a whole lot worse.
Concerned Citizen
How can there not be discrimination towards those who don't have the passport when the whole idea is to discriminate between the haves and the have nots? All discrimination based on personal medical decisions is inappropriate.
Sven Asai
Soon we need an accompanying side truck to carry all our belongings we have to show here or there. Cash, licenses, foreigner card, mynumbercard, credit cards, point cards, bonus cards, stamp cards, vaccination passports. So, although called digital, it’s becoming similarly bureaucratic and totally sick… lol
onedragon
It does not overwhelmingly support. It's a little over half of the population. The passport scheme was designed to push the un-vaccinated to get the jab. It will be difficult to convince them.
Strangerland
That's the point during a pandemic. People are allowed to do essential things, but lose the privileges due to their unwillingness to contribute to resolving the pandemic.
So now you're angry that people are being given a choice.
2020hindsights
divinda
You are 1 / 5 to a 1 / 3 less likely to get the virus depending on the study you read.
But if the place of business requires a vaccine passport, then that community is 100% vaccinated and hence very, very unlikely to cause any transmission of the virus. A sort of localised herd immunity. Hence vaccine passports will greatly reduce the spread of the virus.
Unless the vast majority gets vaccinated. Some come on. Be a team player and do your bit for the community by getting vaccinated.
It will encourage higher uptake of the vaccine.
Or not catch it at all. But obviously catching it while unvaccinated means serious risk of hospitalisation and death.
There really is no sensible reason not to get the vaccine.
2020hindsights
Rob
If you are vaccinated, you are 1/5 to a 1/3 less likely to get the virus depending on the study you read.
If you are in a community where 100% of the people are vaccinated (because only vaccinated people are allowed in), then the likelihood of catching the virus is greatly reduced. You effectively have localised herd immunity.
mikeylikesit
No person should ever be forced (or incentivized) to reveal personal medical information to strangers in order to carry out interactions necessary to daily life.
Strangerland
Well, yeah, that's why we want them to do it. We want them to discriminate against the willingly unclean.
If they want to clean themselves up, they can join us in enjoying the privileges of society.
No shirt, no shoes, no vaccine, no service.
Strangerland
I don't think anyone is proposing that these passports be required for essential services. You'll still be allowed to go shopping etc.
2020hindsights
Rob
5.53 billion doses have already been administered. If that isn't huge amounts of testing, I don't know what is. Also vaccines aren't found to have long term effects, so the 50 years is a red herring.
Actually there is. It reduces the chance of getting infected (and hence transmission) to 1/5 to 1/3.
There is no evidence of this. An Israel study found Pfizer 64% effective against the delta variant. In Britain, researchers reported in May that two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine had an effectiveness of 88 percent protecting against symptomatic disease from Delta. A June study from Scotland concluded that the vaccine was 79 percent effective against the variant. On Saturday, a team of researchers in Canada pegged its effectiveness at 87 percent.
The vaccine hasn't been found to be unsafe. People aren't dying of getting the vaccine. They are dying in droves because they aren't taking the vaccine. You would have to be rather mathematically illiterate if you thought your chances of death increased by taking the vaccine.
Yohan
There are still by far not enough people fully vaccinated who want to be vaccinated - therefore any talk about a domestic vaccination passport is too early anyway, it is also difficult to control in future. How should this work out? You cannot check just everybody entering a railway station, a shopping mall, a department store, a large university campus etc.
However to issue - as it is done already - a vaccination certificate for international travel is necessary as some countries are requesting it already from foreigners entering their countries. No certified proof of full vaccination, no visa....
Strangerland
Japanese bureaucracy isn't known for its speed. If they don't get started now, it will take them months after the passports are needed. Conversely, being prepared ahead of time is responsible.
Gobshite
So what's the point then? Absolutely stupid idea, everyone goes shopping, minority go to other non essential places.
How about hospitals, clinics? Let you die outside because you don't have a nonsensical passport? Utter folly.
I don't think anyone is proposing that these passports be required for essential services. You'll still be allowed to go shopping etc.
JK
By the end of the year we should have such a good vaccination coverage that all restrictions should be dropped.
vendingmachinemusic
I love discounts.
I heard one famous kyabakura is already requiring vaccine proof for admission. Ginza, high class. No vaccine no admittance. Their staff all vaccinated and the free press it got them business picked up 300% since July.
ShinkansenCaboose
People who wish to obtain a certificate are required to submit in person or via mail documents, including the application form, passport and vaccination tickets.
Can I use a 7-11 Fax Machine?
Kokegawa
We're not currently in a worldwide tuberculosis pandemic with millions of people refusing treatment and thereby putting millions of other people at risk. At the moment, influenza is an endemic disease, meaning it exists at a constant baseline level in the population.
So these things are simply not comparable. Your little jab here is rather ridiculous, and the amount of upvotes this has gotten says a lot about the lack of thought shown by people here.
Tell me you don't know what fascism is without telling me, Gooch.
Like for real, go read a book or something. It will hopefully help you understand what terms mean and not merely throw them around on the Internet in such a crackpot manner. For a short read, Umberto Eco's Ur-Fascism should help you on the road.
ian
I would prefer going to places that require vaccine passport than those that do not.
Chances of getting infected from vaccinated people is lower.
And I would certainly also feel better if people around me are vaccinated because it's less likely I'll pass infection to them in the event I have it.
Kokegawa
Honestly this comment-section is full of typical antivaxxer talking points disguised with sophistic "freedom" mumbo jumbo (majoring in political science has helped me notice these types wherever they appear; they are frequent in America, too). You talk of "medical discrimination" - why yes, because you're putting other people at risk with your stupidity if you choose not to get vaccinated with a vaccine that has been approved by health authorities worldwide, mind you. It's the same reason we "discriminate" against people covered in dung from head to toe - you're a walking health risk, and you had better clean up your act before going anywhere near the rest of us.
Vaccine passports work just fine in my home country. You use it when going to bars or big festivities, to let people know you're safe to be around. It's okay, people.
ian
Hopefully we'll achieve a high enough vaccination coverage that vaccination passport will not be necessary
ulysses
Vaccine passports is a great idea!
If you do not want to take the vaccine please feel free to sit at home.
No one wants to interfere with your freedom to isolate yourself from the world.