We suggest using an innovative mechanism called the Clean Health Aggregated Record Multi-pass (CHARM).
By TIRAN GOLDSTEIN, INBAR PINCUTHE CLEAN HEALTH Aggregated Record Multi-pass (CHARM) would be an additional certification that assures Israel that the person who is entering its borders is not a potential risk for the security of others.(photo credit: REUTERS)
Just as Israel takes great care to secure its borders against national security threats, it should add COVID-19 to its blacklist.Israel, along with other nations around the world, is about to re-open its borders to international travel. The economic incentives to open borders without taking the necessary precautions are enormous. Currently, Israel is set to enforce COVID-19 tests on people leaving the state, but not for those coming in. While the endeavor to prevent infected individuals from leaving Israel is important to the international community, Israel must also take into account what measures it can implement to assure the nation’s health against the reintroduction of COVID-19 to its population.We suggest using an innovative mechanism called the Clean Health Aggregated Record Multi-pass (CHARM). Much like a passport is needed to cross most national borders, CHARM would be an additional certification that assures Israel that the person who is entering its borders is not a potential risk for the security of others. CHARM would hold a record of COVID-19 testing for any person who wishes to travel between states. In order for CHARM to be valid, the person would have to test negative for COVID-19 in a specified period of time before entrance into another state, in accordance with the health guidelines of the destination country.Even without a COVID-19 immunization stamp on a person’s international vaccination card, with CHARM, international travel could be enabled. This would free international travel from the restrictions it is currently bound up in, as long as a proven vaccine for COVID-19 eludes us.The goal of the CHARM is to establish health security between states in light of the global health risk, and allow the global community to reemerge and reconnect. For effective results, CHARM should operate on three levels: international organizations, the state of destination and the individual.The role for international organizations would be to create the standardization of the CHARM protocol. Since CHARM would require global coordination between states, international organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO) would need to team up with private medical companies to provide its validity and a standardized structure.States interested in opening their borders have the responsibility and authority of deciding which organizations they approve as accredited CHARM notaries. Each state would have the power to decide on the necessary qualifications a traveler must undergo to gain entrance.Individuals would ultimately be the ones solely responsible for acquiring their CHARM, in the same manner they are responsible for acquiring a passport. This would relieve reliance on a cumbersome governmental bureaucratic system. Individuals would act responsibly because they would feel the direct consequences of not having the proper credentials required of them to gain entry into a country.CHARM is the optimal solution to the sub-optimal situation in which we currently find ourselves, both as individuals and as a global community. We must have some sort of applicable health security mechanism before we open our borders. We cannot be indifferent to the threat that such action would have, and take the proper measures to assure the least amount of risk.Just as we have certifications of access in other walks of life (driver’s license, medical license, SCUBA-diving license), CHARM would grant access across national borders. International organizations and medical companies that oversee the process would behave responsibly because they have reputational and financial incentives to succeed, and even larger ones to avoid failure.With the ongoing pressure to reopen national borders, and the looming risk associated with such an action, CHARM would be a simple and effective solution to protecting health security while reopening borders between states. The CHARMing reglobalization could provide a sense of security that was never needed before now. It would protect global health security in the future so if the threat returns, we will be ready for it.As the renowned Start-Up Nation, Israel could embrace the opportunity and become a global leader, not only in the field of military security, but national health security as well.The authors are graduate students of the Davis Institute Research Program studying in the International Relations Department at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Of their fields of study, they focus on political economy and secu-rity respectively. Tiran Goldstein has worked for the Jerusalem Post in the past and has published several articles for the paper and website.
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