The business case for immunity passports
Business Daily
BBC
4.4 • 816 Ratings
🗓️ 28 May 2020
⏱️ 17 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Antibody testing to see if a patient has had coronavirus is becoming more frequent. Many are putting their hopes into using such tests as the basis for immunity ‘passports’ so people can re-emerge back into society without fear of infecting others. Chile and Estonia have begun work on such systems, and we’ll hear from Taavet Hinrikus, the tech entrepreneur who is helping design Estonia’s system. Individual companies are interested in the idea as well, as John Holland-Kaye, the CEO of Heathrow Airport, explains. Meanwhile, companies such as Onfido are racing to design apps to accommodate such a system, while other businesses are wary of whether immunity passports are the right way to get their staff back to work.
(Picture: illustration of a SARS-CoV-2 virion. Picture credit: Getty Images.)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello there, I'm Ed Butler. |
| 0:02.7 | Welcome to Business Daily from the BBC. |
| 0:05.1 | Today, our second program on immunity passports. |
| 0:08.3 | And we're asking, have health officials been too cautious to acknowledge the possibility of our natural immunity? |
| 0:15.7 | Organizations as a world health organization, governments, our role is to be cautious. They are not really there |
| 0:22.4 | to be super innovative and take all the risks. I do think this solution is of great value. |
| 0:28.2 | But hang on, are there also risks in allowing employers potentially to demand workers' test for |
| 0:34.0 | immunity? What you're telling me is, okay, if you want to go back to work, |
| 0:38.2 | you're going to need to contract a deadly disease that we don't actually want you to have |
| 0:43.0 | to feed your family, keep a roof over your house. |
| 0:45.8 | We don't want to create those incentives. |
| 0:48.0 | The business case for immunity passports, that's Business Daily from the BBC. |
| 0:55.3 | Okay. Relax the BBC. Okay. |
| 0:56.2 | Relax the hand. |
| 0:58.2 | So I'm not sure if your provider explained already, |
| 1:01.8 | but this test has a turnaround of three to five days, averagely. |
| 1:06.7 | A patient extends her arm and gives blood to a New York clinician. |
| 1:13.1 | And if you have the one medical app, it's super seamless. |
| 1:15.9 | This type of antibody test is now routine in some coronavirus hotspots like New York City. |
| 1:22.9 | Those with the money or the high-end insurance can be tested there with a degree of accuracy these days, |
| 1:28.5 | according to firms providing the latest testing. |
| 1:31.5 | If you have antibodies, the theory goes you are unlikely now to get the disease again. |
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