How CES Enforces Vaccine Mandate via Clear App Bears Watching

December 8, 2021 by Paul Gluckman|CES 2023

Uploading a COVID-19 proof-of-vaccination card from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to the Clear smartphone app and its embedded Health Pass is the most expedient way for CES 2022 attendees who are fully inoculated to pick up their badges on arrival in Las Vegas, say CTA’s health and safety protocols. Those who don’t have the Clear app or another form of digital vaccine proof will be diverted to one of five customer service centers at various CES 2022 venues to show their physical CDC cards. “Individuals are considered fully vaccinated 14 days after their second dose of multi-dose vaccines and 14 days after the single-dose vaccines,” say the protocols. “CES will strictly enforce this schedule.” The protocols mean that anyone visiting a badge pickup location on the show’s opening morning Jan. 5 will have needed to get a final vaccine dose at least three days before Christmas. We queried Clear to ask how the app can differentiate between authentic and counterfeit CDC cards. Clear’s “digital vaccine solutions link a verified identity to COVID-19 insights to help deter potential fraud,” emailed spokesperson Ken Lisaius. “The CDC card upload uses image recognition technology and computer learning to determine if the card being uploaded meets the visual specifications of a government-issued CDC card,” said Lisaius, a former deputy press secretary in the George W. Bush White House. He left unanswered whether the Clear app will deny a badge to anyone not fully vaccinated at least 14 days out. CES is using Clear’s Health Pass “for free, safe and frictionless entry to the event,” said Lisaius. Only people who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 "will be able to participate in-person in Las Vegas," say the CES 2022 protocols. The only exceptions are for convention staff and freight company employees who work the show venues during off-peak and overnight hours, they say. “We have requested that all convention staff during show days and hours show proof of vaccination.”