Vaccine passport policies boosted COVID-19 vaccinations in Canada, study suggests

COVID-19 proof of vaccination requirements — commonly known as vaccine passports — led to more Canadians under 50 getting their first dose shortly after the policies were implemented, according to a newly published study by public health researchers.

Understanding how effective these policies were could help public health officials across the country prepare for future pandemics, the researchers say.

"We were looking ahead," Nazeem Muhajarine, a professor of community health and epidemiology at the University of Saskatchewan who helped with the study, said during a Tuesday interview with CBC Radio's Afternoon Edition.

"What lessons can we learn from this proof of vaccination policy so that this might be one of the tools that we can use in future public health crisis situations?"

The researchers, who were from the U of S, the University of Regina, the University of Toronto and the Coronavirus Variants Rapid Response Network (CoVaRR-Net) — a network of researchers from across Canada — started studying the effectiveness of vaccine passports in all Canadian jurisdictions from June 2021 to November 2021, Muhajarine said.

They found "an immediate and substantial" increase in first-dose vaccination rates for Canadians of all ages in the days after proof-of-vaccination requirements were announced, according to the study's results, which were published in this month's issue of Health Affairs, a peer-reviewed health-policy journal.

Provincial governments, including Saskatchewan's, introduced vaccine passports in 2021, after the first major waves of the COVID-19 pandemic and as people began to get COVID-19 vaccines.

The passports, which often featured a QR code, showed a person's vaccination status.

Proof-of-vaccination policies required evidence of a vaccination in order to access some non-essential services, such as in-restaurant dining, the study notes, and were "presented as a promising tool for increasing vaccination coverage" and to "facilitate a 'return to normal' by enabling the lifting of remaining public health protections."

Researchers compared vaccination rates, across age groups and time, in the seven weeks before and after vaccine passports were implemented across Canada.

Nationally, researchers estimate first-dose vaccination rates jumped 17.5 per cent in the seven weeks after provinces announced proof-of-vaccination policies, the study says.

For those younger than 50, the increase in vaccination rates lasted up to three weeks after the policies were announced, before levelling out in most age groups within six weeks, the study found.

Upticks were more drastic and lasted longer in younger demographics, such as people aged 18 to 29, it says.

"Young people are more likely to be out and about — take part in social activities, go to restaurants, sporting events and concerts and so on," Muhajarine said.

"This was one way, at that time, that they could actually continue to have their social life. So this was expected."

Youth aged 12 to 17 saw a sharp spike in vaccination as well, but it only last two weeks, the study says. Researchers suggest this may be attributed to accessibility, such as unfavourable appointment times.

While the study notes that "proof-of-vaccination policies were highly contentious in Canada," as in other countries, it also says they may be effective short-term policies to boost immunization rates should a future pandemic occur.

However, other approaches would likely be needed to reach unvaccinated people and build public access and confidence in vaccines long-term, the study suggests.

The researchers also suggest future policies explore how to shift vaccines resources, such as doses "in a targeted fashion."

Saskatchewan Health Minister Everett Hindley told reporters Tuesday that there will be no vaccine passports.