Covid Vaccination Certificate Requirement

[David-And-Kevin0]

We closed our BnB cottage in March 2020 because of Covid. Yesterday we began accepting reservations for June 5 and beyond.

I thought we were being original. Our listing was updated with an opening statement that Covid Vaccination Certificates are required for every guest prior to them being given a key.  In addition to the Airbnb listing, we will include a statement with our response to their reservation request.

I soon discovered that we are not alone with that requirement.

Has anybody else done this? Has Airbnb made a statement about it. 

[James2800]

 It's sad that @David-And-Kevin0 state such a prejudicial statement/label concerning individuals who believe in and exercise their FREEDOM to choose NOT get vaccinated, for whatever reason. Just as you have the FREEDOM of CHOICE to require COVID-19 vaccination (jab) certificates to stay in your place. (Are you in favor of Liberty/Freedom of other kinds of choices?) That's as political as I'll go in this forum space as it's not relevant to the discussion.

I do support that Hosts should have the FREEDOM/CHOICE to require COVID-19 Jab certificates and/or 72-hour tests for incoming guests. And obviously, Guests have to right to CHOOSE whether or not to stay in your place with the restrictions. If your AirBNB space is inside your home, requiring COVID-19 testing as a minimum seems reasonable. Our AirBNB properties are in the country, so naturally, we don't require any kind of health certificate, and never would as that would have an adverse effect on our business. Furthermore, I thought the COVID-19 cleaning/disinfecting protocol was/is plenty of protection for incoming guests, especially if you understand viruses. 

[David-And-Kevin0]

For many years, if people traveled internationally they contacted the local consulates of the countries that they would be visiting. The consulates would provide a list of vaccinations that are required to visit their country. The travelers would arrange with their personal doctor to get the vaccinations and the paperwork required before their trip began. The airlines would check the paperwork before permitting you to get on the plane - just like your passport. No big deal. No freedoms lost. Everybody's health was protected.

[Sarah977]

@Mary4369 @David-And-Kevin0 

At the very least, asking that guests be vaccinated or have a negative test will ward off those folks who are Covid deniers, who are the types we probably would prefer not to host anyway.

I can relate to living in an area where people won't wear masks and act like it's all a big hoax. It's like that in my town. Filled with maskless tourists and locals. Luckily I live out in the countryside and avoid town. 

I'm what you might call a discriminatory vaxxer. I will definitely get a Covid vaccine when I am able to, because it's such a terrible disease and so easily spread. But I didn't get my kids vaccinated with the normal childhood vaccines, because I don't consider measles and chicken pox to be particularly dangerous, at least in North America. I know children die of measles in countries with poor health care, poor sanitation, and lack of access to clean water, and if I had been in one of those places, I would have had them vaccinated. Same with polio- had there been another polio epidemic, or threat of one, I would have gotten them polio vaccines. I'm 71 and have never gotten a flu shot. Many might not agree with me, but I don't believe in pumping the body full of shots to prevent all diseases. But the diseases that are a real heavy threat, definitely.

[Lisa723]

@Sarah977 we've had recent serious measles outbreaks in my state because enough parents felt and acted as you did. It is heartbreaking to hear from immunocompromised people, and parents of infants too young to be immunized, trapped in their homes for fear of encountering the virus in the community.

It's very discouraging to hear of otherwise reasonable people substituting their personal "believe in" feelings for scientific evidence and civic responsibility.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_Pacific_Northwest_measles_outbreak

https://www.openculture.com/2019/04/roald-dahl-it-really-is-almost-a-crime-to-allow-your-child-to-go...

[Karen1176]

Sarah, it’s not unlike covid - while measles or chickenpox might not be dangerous to your children, they can be deadly serious to others, especially pregnant women. If a woman is not immune to measles and becomes infected while pregnant, there's a risk of miscarriage or stillbirth. Measles in childhood might pass, but it can leave permanent scar tissue around your heart which you won’t discover until you’re an adult. It can also cause sterility in men who contract it.

[Melodie-And-John0]

@David-And-Kevin0 , I guess you gotta do what you feel you gotta do but you can buy fake docs for everything from SS cards, birth certs, drivers licenses  to passports, no doubt phony covid certs are no far stretch and probably available for a couple bucks at multiple black market vendors. 

Then there is a thought process that says requiring papers to travel and stay somewhere is pretty draconian, smells Hitlerian and likely ineffective due to forgeries and liars of all kinds.   Lastly, its one thing for my wife and I to reveal we've both been vaccinated as a business decision if that helps a guest feel more comfortable about hosts that live in the same home as their private suite they want to rent but I can't feel comfortable requiring guests to tell me about their medical history in any way, thats just a bridge too far, I'm an Inn Keeper not an agent.

Best defense against any infectious disease is an inoculation and the 3 we are getting in the US are more effective than most other types most of us have accepted and appreciated for many decades.  Once your Vaccinated, start living and running your business again!  Its perfectly ok to enter a new day optimistic about the future and unafraid of the "Vid", just my 2 cents for what its worth!   Stay well, JR

[Sarah977]

@Melodie-And-John0  "requiring papers to travel and stay somewhere is pretty draconian, smells Hitlerian..."

 Comparing not being able to go on vacation and stay at a hotel or an Airbnb because you haven't been vaccinated, to being confined to a ghetto with a yellow star on your arm because of your religion or etnicity, and then shipped off to the gas chambers **

**[Personal remarks hidden in line with - Community Center Guidelines]

[David-And-Kevin0]

@Sarah977 If you are at all familiar with international travel you would know that many areas of the world have required documentation of vaccinations that a voyager has had prior to arrival. It's only in the world of Trump that people have begun to object. I see the vaccination requirement as one that is attempting to protect the traveler and us.

[Sarah977]

@David-And-Kevin0  And I agree with you. Any country or individual has the right to require whatever they consider necessary in order to protect their own or society's health.

No one is being forced to stay in a hotel, Airbnb or enter a foreign country. None of those things are "rights".

I have a friend who is an elementary school teacher. She has incurred the wrath of some parents and some of the administration because when someone sends their child to school obviously sick, she calls the parents and tells them they need to come pick up their child- that their child cannot be in her classroom exposing the other children and herself to whatever illness the child has, and no, the fact that you're at work and don't have a babysitter isn't a valid excuse to send your child to school coughing their head off- it's school, not a babysitting service or a sick ward.

[Michele511]

@Melodie-And-John0  We are already required certain vaccines to travel to certain countries, esp. 3rd world. And vaccines are required in schools in many states before kids can enter a classroom. Suddenly all this is Hitlerian and draconian? If you continue that logic, it should be legal to kill people because one doesn’t believe it is wrong. The political side of this is out of hand and has become a danger to the safety of society.This is why people want to do as much as they can to protect their own personal property from people who believe this. And we have that right. 

[James2800]

Glad to see people who understand that Liberty is under assault with all of this pandemic scare.

[David-And-Kevin0]

For many years, if people traveled internationally they contacted the local consulates of the countries that they would be visiting. The consulates would provide a list of vaccinations that are required to visit their country. The travelers would arrange with their personal doctor to get the vaccinations and the paperwork required before their trip began. The airlines would check the paperwork before permitting you to get on the plane - just like your passport. No big deal. No freedoms lost. Everybody's health was protected.

[Melodie-And-John0]

Thats not at all the comparison I was making @Sarah977 , clearly I was pointing out the obvious uncomfortable idea that one would need to show papers to do normal thinks like stay in a Airbnb even in your own state.  We dont even require ID to vote in most states but you would need a special covid permit to stay in a hotel?  I dont like it and disagree highly with the idea, Just sayin, JR

[Sarah977]

@Melodie-And-John0  Again, showing a paper that says you've been vaccinated in order to stay in a hotel or Airbnb is a far cry from being accosted for papers just to walk down the street based on your religion, race or ethnicity. 

Please don't try to compare these things. 

[Melodie-And-John0]

Sorry @Sarah977  if Im the first person that you have heard use that comparison, if you had a TV and watched the news, you would have heard that same done to over half of our elected representatives by 90% of the credentialed press corps, but I guess they alone have the unmitigated privilege to do so that I don't as just a Inn Keeper and citizen.   

I have no problem with other nations or even hosts like @David-And-Kevin0 deciding what they will and then I will decide if I want to comply.  Having grown up in a country and state where showing ones papers for less than entering a highly restricted access area other than buying an adult beverage or cashing a check, I would wish to be sure that it was completely necessary and accurate and if there is a chance the docs are not official, it feels like its not a useful or practical exercise.  If it makes you feel better you should do it, my point was there is no reason for me to trust a standard reporting protocol that actually has no standard as the NY excelsior Pass and 50 others are saying is effective, it isnt effective or reliable, only a proven antibody test with an unbroken chain of custody provides that and we will not ever have that as hosts.