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Ticketmaster Will Require Proof of Vaccination or Negative Covid-19 Test for Concert Entry in 2021

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Update, November 12, 12:31pm EST: Ticketmaster has issued a statement indicating certain details of the Billboard report referenced below were incorrect. You can read about that here.

Original Post:

Live events ticketing behemoth Ticketmaster is already busy planning how to safely bring back concerts in 2021 amidst the Covid-19 pandemic. And it’s looking as if the company will soon require attendees at its events to prove they’ve either gotten a Covid-19 vaccine or tested negative within the past 24 to 72 hours.

Ticketmaster has been devising plans for how to safely bring back concerts for months, but those efforts have certainly been given a morale boost by Pfizer’s recent announcement of an encouraging vaccine trial boasting a 90% effective rate. And that vaccine, or others like it, is front and center of their plan.

Verification would be a three-step process, and here’s how it would work. After receiving the vaccination or negative test result, healthcare providers (a local testing facility, urgent care clinic or personal doctor) would send the data to a third party health information company like CLEAR Health Pass or IBM’s Digital Health Pass. Those services would in turn send the information to Ticketmaster’s app, which would be used as a ticket for event entry. All the information would be encrypted and protected in compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

With a 24 to 72 hour window for all of the above to happen, there are obviously a ton of logistical issues that could potentially trip up the process, which at first is sure to be rife with disappointed concertgoers who did everything right but find themselves unable to get in. The exact details of that process have yet to be entirely vetted out. But once the system gets rolling, it could prove as a very useful and efficient method for ensuring safety at concerts.

This sort of tracking and vaccine/test requirement is also sure to set off alarms with “freedom of speech” activists who don’t ever want to be told what to do. They’ll have to decide for themselves whether that alleged “freedom” is worth missing a concert over, or if getting a test/vaccine is simply a responsible thing to do for not only oneself but others, similar to not driving drunk.

Ticketmaster president Mark Yovich says he wants to make it as easy as possible for concertgoers to verify themselves in a number of different ways:

“Ticketmaster’s goal is to provide enough flexibility and options that venues and fans have multiple paths to return to events, and is working to create integrations to our API and leading digital ticketing technology as we will look to tap into the top solutions based on what’s green-lit by officials and desired by clients.”

Ticketmaster provides ticketing for a huge number of live events of all kinds in North America, including all of those promoted by Live Nation, making their plan a potentially important milestone for the return of live concerts.

You can read more about the program over at Billboard.

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