Dr. Anthony Fauci: US Government Is Considering Issuing Covid-19 “Immunity Card”

Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), has said that US government is considering a proposal to issue identification cards that indicate if somebody has already been infected by the coronavirus — and has therefore, probably, become immune, Politico reported.

Trump administration is looking at various ways to restart the U.S. economy in the coming weeks.

"As we look forward, as we get to the point of at least considering opening up the country, as it were, it's very important to appreciate and to understand how much that virus has penetrated the society," Fauci said in an interview to CNN.

"You know, that's possible," Fauci told CNN," when asked whether he could imagine a time when people across the country carry such forms of identification.

Fauci also added that the implementation of proposal depends upon the widespread deployment of antibody tests which the National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug Administration are in the process of validating in the the U.S.

Antibody tests can indicate if the virus has already prompted the human immune system to produce antibodies capable of fending off future infections.

Fauci said that he’s expecting “a rather large number of tests” to be available in a matter of a week, noting that he’s “certain that that’s going to happen.”

The idea of “immunity passports” have been mooted in Germany to allow a subsection of the population to get back to work.