Restaurant Workers Are Wearing Bracelets To Prove They’ve Been Vaccinated
One restaurant in Philadelphia is attempting to make its customers feel more comfortable about returning to normalcy by requiring its vaccinated employees to wear a bracelet that makes it clear they’ve received their immunizations.
El Merkury is the restaurant that’s having most of its employees wear a blue silicone bracelet with a QR code on the side of it that links directly to their proof of Covid-19 vaccination. The overall goal of this is to not only give the customers a greater peace of mind, but staff members as well.
Sofia Deleon is the owner of El Merkury who spoke to local journalists this week regarding the new bracelets and how it’s providing staff and customers with an extra sense of security.
“It was really important for me to have everybody vaccinated so that they could come back to work and really feel safe.”
The bracelets work by having the wearers upload their vaccination cards for review before they can receive the band itself. The documentation is stored on a server that is in compliance with medical privacy laws so users don;t have to worry about their information being shared. The process is end-to-end encrypted, providing the most security for users.
ImmunaBand is the brand responsible for making these bracelets, and the company makes two types of bands. One of them just has the QR code while the other has the QR code plus the wearer’s name and type of vaccine they received. That code can easily be scanned by any smartphone’s camera for proof of vaccination.
Tashof Bernton is the president of ImmunaBand and recently spoke to CNN about how restaurants in Los Angeles and Pennsylvania specifically are buying the bands the most currently.
“I hope the use of our bands will become more widespread to help demonstrate support for the vaccination program and help people feel more comfortable as the economy continues to reopen.”
Berton explained how the bracelets are simply a “way of saying ‘look I’m safe,’ and try to deescalate some of the tension and fear that people feel after a year in lockdown.”
Even better, a portion of profits from the bands go directly to Covid relief and recover funds. Berton discussed how ImmunaBand “is a business, but it also really is about showing support for the vaccination program and doing what we can to bring us back together again as a society.”
Eric Mastrota is a Contributing Editor at The National Digest based in New York. A graduate of SUNY New Paltz, he reports on world news, culture, and lifestyle. You can reach him at eric.mastrota@thenationaldigest.com.