This is the start???

Yes, it's clear that it's murky (ummmm... that didn't come out right).

Back to the original point of this thread (vaccines). I changed my mind. I now think the major lines are not going to mandate it for passengers unless they're forced to do so. And the shift in my opinion is because I recently read that there are currently no vaccines for anyone under the age of 16. The pharma's are testing them, but according to the "experts", vaccines for kids won't be available until the fall at the earliest.

If vaccines are mandated, the major cruise lines will have to postpone cruises until then. What are they going to say to all the cruisers who have planned family vacations? "Sorry, you'll just have to leave the kids at home".

The more that is said and done there is more said than done!!! It's a very murky world.

My wife has it pretty easy...if I’m not at home, I’m at the Cabin, work, the firehall, or the bar. On a cruise ship it’s even easier - The smoking deck with a cigar and scotch, the hot tub, the buffet. ;)

Lack of cruising is certainly leading to a diversity of thread topics and an assortment of left turns ain't it? Mebbe in our lifetime we can get back to debating midnite wings at O'Sheehans......mmmmmmm.......in the meantime, those chips could be used to track wayward husbands eh?

Ableman is correct. We can never assume technology is 100% secure, especially when it is protecting sensitive information. Governments have relied on systems that were “foolproof”(think Nazis with Enigma, Soviets with Albatross) However, most of these systems require a human counterpart, which can be bribed, kidnapped, or defect. The mechanical/electronic counterpart can be stolen, hacked, etc. All it takes is 1 person with the right clearances to become disenfranchised with the system, and your information can be breeched.

I appreciate the joke, but that's an interesting proposition to me.

Now before I go into this, I sense a need to put out a disclaimer. I'm not advocating anything like this and I'm well aware of the privacy, security, and civil liberties implications of such a scenario. However, under the right conditions there would be some appeal to me in a future that included something like that.

I'm a worrier, especially when I travel. And my number one worry and concern is losing the critical travel documents which puts us "dead in the water" as far as our vacation is concerned. I hold on to our passports for dear life and I only breathe easy when they're locked in our cabin's safe. I have backup plans (read my last post) just in case they get lost or stolen. Now I'm going to have to make sure I don't lose another set of documents (vaccination cards) or worry about my cell phone crashing, thus losing all the encrypted data.

A chip that has all that data securely stored under my skin where it can't get lost or stolen would in my mind have some definite advantages.

Now, no one has to point out all the obvious security issues. I'm well aware. I'm just saying that if they figured out a way to do it where it would be 100% secure, I think I'd go for it.

It's probably a moot point though. As soon as they would start working on it, someone else will start working on how to hack it, thus exposing it to theft or distortion.

It will be programmed into the chip in your neck, just like Fido. They Scan your neck before you go into airport or cruise terminal. Just kidding,

Not sure about posting this, but what the heck we need some joking with the way things are going.

Couldn't agree more. Just like I pack my birth certificate as a backup, in case something happens with/to my passport, I guarantee you the card would be my backup to any smartphone app with my vaccination data. That is, at least for the next year or two.

Hopefully, down the road they will have verifiable and accurate vaccine data in a "download-able" encrypted electronic form, which in the new world we are entering will be a pre-requisite to boarding.

All I'm saying is that It's coming, and it's a lot closer than we imagine.

I just spent 20 min or so fooling around with this....going back to the days of the so-called "yellow card"...there has always been some form of "International Certificate of Vaccination"....of massively differing accuracy, or source of data. It appears that to legitimize it, back in the days of paper proof for anything, it had to be signed off by a physician, indicating you had whichever shots. Not going to happen here...MDs for the most part, aren't even involved. And I have seen with my own eyes (on TV at least) pharmacies with boxes of papers rubber banded and clipped together indicating who gets a shot, which shot (first or second), and so on...They do what with their ever growing gazillion pieces of paper...ship it where? Transmit it how? To the county, state or the FED? EVERYONE involved is playing a humongous, never ending numbers game...and magically this is supposed to wind up on YOUR cell phone? with verifiable data?Sure airline tickets wind up on your cell phone....YOU created the account and YOU bought the tickets didn"t you? please...

As far as AMAZON or EBAY or someone who does this all the time taking it over,,,,apples and oranges...YOU created the account, YOU fed in all pertinent personal data, and as long as you limit your purchases to them directly, of course they know how many rolls of TP you use....and even autoship it...

The FED has no clue whose arm got the shot. I would bet the states don't know either...When we got called for our actual time of day for our second, the girl who called had no idea it was for our second...she thought it was for our first...as it turned out it really didn't matter....but thats from a pharmacy thats actually computerized, but is as prone to errors as anyone else.

DON'T LOSE THAT SHOT CARD KIDS!!!! I have no idea how you would go about replacing it...I would also strongly suggest you make a bunch of copies of it...sooner or later some clown at a ticket counter or terminal is going to want it...and I'll be damned if I'll let someone "wander off with it"......

I have no idea! But it will be interesting to research. Maybe nothing will come of it and remember I am not tech savvy. So if it ends up easily done by me, anyone can do it.