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The broader plan also includes vaccination incentives such as $ 100 debit cards. “The goal here is to convince everyone that the time has come,” de Blasio said.

How it will work: To watch a Broadway show, eat indoors in a restaurant, or visit the gym, you must show proof that you have received at least one dose of COVID vaccine. (It won’t be needed for basic necessities like grocery shopping.) Acceptable proof would include the state’s Excelsior Pass (which faced a number of glitches and equity issues), as well as a new app released by the city, NYC Covid Safe. A paper card issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will also work. The requirement applies to both customers and employees of these places.

Some details are still fuzzy. For example, it is unclear how the plan will work for children under 12 who are not yet eligible for the vaccine. (De Blasio said additional information will be released in mid-August.) It is also unclear how facility operators and workers will handle the burden of screening everyone. The NYC Hospitality Alliance said the new requirement will be “a very difficult and controversial step for some.” For other businesses, this will be a welcome way to enforce policies that were previously voluntary.

Application for this: The NYC Covid Safe app offers fewer features than the state’s app and doesn’t connect directly to vaccine records. Instead, it simply stores an image of the vaccine record. This makes it an easier tool for people whose vaccine records are kept out of state, since vaccine databases in the United States are not nationally centralized. But Albert Fox Kahn, who is studying vaccine passports as executive director of a surveillance technology oversight project, points to some flaws. Since the city app basically just stores the photo, it will take almost everything as proof of the vaccine, making it much easier to fake credentials. “It baffles me that they went out of their way to actually re-invent the camera,” says Kahn.

S. Mitra Kalita, founder of Covid’s Epicenter-NYC, says that while policies may be needed to tackle the delta option, new technologies should not distract from the broader goal of helping more people get vaccinated. “We still run into people who don’t know that vaccines are free,” she says. “An application is one thing. We need a lot [other] things right now. ”

The big picture: When it comes to vaccine supplements and prescriptions, the US has run into difficulties. Evidence requirements are strictly prohibited in many states. But there’s a sharp rift – San Francisco now has an alliance of hundreds of bars that need that kind of proof. In recent days, more and more employers have begun clamoring for vaccines, including scattered companies such as Disney, Google and Tyson.

Other countries, such as France and Italy, have faced backlash over recent mandates. The UK is discussing such a move. Israel canceled and then renewed the Green Pass. (The Ada Lovelace Institute has a good list.)