Vaccination Verification: To Require Or Not To Require? It’s A Fair Question

Just more than a week earlier Global Citizen hosted a vaccinated audience of about  27,000 at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif., for its Vax Live concert, featuring Foo Fighters, Jennifer Lopez, H.E.R. and more in support of global efforts to get shots in arms worldwide.

And in at least four Major League Baseball stadiums, and many minor-league ballparks, tickets are being sold for “vaccinated only” sections, allowing fans to gather in larger groups and closer proximity than they otherwise would be allowed in other, socially distanced, locations.

It’s all part of the “new normal” now that concerts and other live events begin to ramp up, and indicative of the pent-up desire of fans to not only be able to attend events, but do so in a way that resembles life in the “before COVID time” – up close and personal with friends and family.

At City Winery, Dorf has teamed up with CLEAR, a company that provides screening and identification services at numerous airports across the country, to screen and verify testing and vaccination status for all entering the venue. New York’s Excelsior Pass – a New York initiative to confirm COVID-19 vaccination or negative test results based on data provided by medical providers or testing labs to New York databases – serves a similar function.

“It was absolutely fantastic,” Dorf told Pollstar the day after that first fully vaccinated show. “I have really fun little buttons that say “City Winery, fully vaccinated, slightly intoxicated” that I personally handed out to customers. Everybody’s happy to do it. You feel way more comfortable being in the room knowing everyone else around you is also vaccinated.”

In Inglewood, CrowdRx facilitated screening of concertgoers for Global Citizen and Vax Live on May 2. An estimated 27,000 fans spun the turnstiles to attend the concert in SoFi Stadium, which would normally sport a 70,000 capacity. Getting them screened and inside quickly and easily was a priority.

“We had hundreds of screeners on site,” CrowdRx Executive Director Connor Fitzpatrick says. “It was a big undertaking and I think it was an incredible proof of concept. And it’s working. We’ve had a number of events reach out afterwards, too, so there are quite a few events that are upcoming that are using our services in a similar fashion for them.”

CrowdRx has a long history of providing medical services for large events like Burning Man and venues including Yankee Stadium and Madison Square Garden. Among its clients are Live Nation, AEG, Insomniac, Disco Donnie, Electric Forest, Beacon Theatre, and other concert-related businesses. 

While CrowdRx does not presently employ a mobile app or other electronic verification system to basically wave people in to venues, screeners and temperature checks are employed along with asking users to present their CDC-issued vaccination cards. CrowdRx Medical Director Matt Friedman MD is emphatic about the importance of vaccinations for people in mass group settings like the Vax Live concert.

“The science is unequivocal,” he says, firmly. “It is safer for everyone involved from the event staff to all the members within the venue, that everyone is vaccinated. Every single person can have a safer experience. There are no downsides to everyone being vaccinated. Whenever you introduce a certain percentage of people who are unvaccinated, the risk to everybody increases.”

Friedman is conscious of the fact that not everybody can be vaccinated and, even for those who are, protection is not 100% assured. And the science continues to evolve as more vaccinations are administered.

“Autoimmune conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis and lupus are very common,” Friedman explains. “Some people are on steroids chronically for asthma. So there’s a concern that they are not developing the correct immune response to vaccination. And even though those people did the best they could by getting vaccinated, there’s a concern that they don’t have enough immunity to COVID-19 and an unvaccinated person will transmit to them. They could suffer a full-blown course requiring hospitalization. And that might, God forbid, include a ventilator.

“But really, [proof of vaccination] addresses the anxiety level and the overall comfort of everybody in a venue where everyone is vaccinated. My comfort level automatically increases and anxiety decreases because I feel like it’s a pre-pandemic experience. And when not everybody is vaccinated, it’s just not the same level of assurances.”

Up the road in Los Angeles, MLB’s Dodgers tested a vaccinated-only section of Dodger Stadium on April 24, selling out 500 tickets priced from $124 to $154. A week later, the team announced it would double the size of the promotion and reduce ticket prices to as low as $34 as further incentive for fans to get their shots. The initiative proved popular enough that it will remain in place for all games during three homestands in May. 

While masks remain required in the vaccinated section, social distancing is not. In California, venues such as Dodger Stadium are currently restricted to about one-third capacity but are expected to return to 100% capacity when restrictions are fully relaxed June 15.

Friedman acknowledges that vaccination guidelines are a moving target and one size definitely will not fit all when it comes to requiring evidence of either a recent negative test or full vaccination. 

Back at City Winery, Dorf opened with a capacity of 100 and has since increased to 150. While a date has not been set by the state for full, indoor reopening, he expects to resume 100% percent, 300-capacity shows sooner rather than later. 

He’s encountered little to no pushback from customers about the vaccination requirement and, in surveys he’s taken since opening April 3, Dorf found nearly all guests were vaccinated before even purchasing tickets. 

“Ninety-five percent of our customers had already gotten vaccinated,” Dorf says. “We know we have a high, high number of people in New York that are behind the technology and the concept. It wasn’t even an issue.”

That may not be the case as Dorf reopens the remainder of his City Winery venues (Nashville was the first to reopen) in cities including Philadelphia, Atlanta, Chicago and Washington, D.C. And even as some governors, including Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, have issued orders banning businesses from establishing what are commonly but inaccurately called “vaccination passports,” Dorf is steadfast in his goal of “100% vaccinated venues” at all City Winery locations.

“The issue between the state governor in Georgia and the mayor, Keisha Bottoms in Atlanta, as well as [New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo] and [New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio], is there,” Dorf says. “They may be from opposing parties or the same party but, either way, they’re not seeing eye to eye on anything,” a clearly exasperated Dorf says. “We’re in eight markets, with 16 rules between state and city, with no federal guidance. So we have to make the smart decision. And our decision is erring maybe a little bit on the side of being overly protective of our patrons and of our artists and of our staff. Basically, [opponents of vaccine verification are] telling us, ‘You’ve got to allow people to exchange body fluids.’”

So is Dorf willing to buck the law in Georgia?

“I’m OK with being arrested,” Dorf says, laughing. “I’m OK with being arrested for encouraging a vaccine policy. I’m depressed that one is necessary. We have a policy of no guns in our place, even if it’s an open carry state. And if Georgia wants to establish a rule that says we have to allow people to have guns in our place, I will fight that one, too.

“[Politicians] don’t understand the gathering business. They don’t understand the concert business,” Dorf continues. “Our job is to keep people safe. And we’re going to do our best to keep people safe, period.”