In this interview, we take a deep dive into vaccine passports with Nick Corbishley, author of “Scanned: Why Vaccine Passports and Digital IDs Will Mean the End of Privacy and Personal Freedom.”

In my mind, there’s little doubt that the primary reason for the rollout of the COVID jabs was not for public health but to justify the rollout of vaccine passports, which in turn are just the first iteration of a much broader mechanism to surveil, track, manipulate and control the population of the world.

Corbishley has been a journalist, writing about politics, finance, and privacy issues for the past decade. While based in Barcelona, Spain, he’s been contributing to two U.S. blogs since 2013.

“Israel was the first democratic country to launch digital IDs, in February, 2021, and when I started to see what was going on there, I began to get very concerned,” Corbishley says. “I wrote an article in April 2021, raising my concerns about the risks these vaccine passports posed.

Then, little by little, I began to see what's happening in Europe. I began to see what was happening in Italy, in France, when the so called Green Pass was launched in June. This was a document that was supposed to be created to enable travel between countries in Europe.

Very quickly, it began to be used to control access to public services, access to public places within one's own country. We were beginning to see restrictions that we'd never seen in our lifetime.

So, I began to write more and more and this brought me to the attention of the Vermont-based publisher, Chelsea Green. We had some conversations and we decided that there was an opportunity to write about something that everybody should know about. Even at this stage. It's not being talked about anywhere near as much as it should be.”

Two Key Concerns

One of the primary concerns vaccine passports bring to the fore is related to privacy. If implemented, they will strip us of most of the privacy we’re used to. It’s quite clear that they are a precursor to digital identity and a far more invasive type of digital surveillance apparatus.

“The passports essentially function as a gateway to allow government to herd us into a totally new reality where our actions, our movements, our thoughts, our behavior are tracked and surveilled,” Corbishley says.

But it's not just about surveillance. It’s also about forcing compliance, and that’s the second key concern.

“If we've learned one thing about the vaccine passport, this is about changing the way we relate to government, and it's about changing the way government relates to us, the governed.

If you do not do exactly what the government says going forward, whether that is putting one jab inside your arm, whether is putting two jabs inside your arm, or however many jabs inside your arm, you will be deactivated. You will not be able to access the most basic services and the sort of places that we need to be able to participate in society and economy.”

Surveillance on Steroids

Of course, we’ve been under surveillance for many years already. All Google-related technologies are tracking and surveillance technologies. Our cell phones track and surveil us. Ditto for Facebook and other social media platforms. They’re all harvesting personal information and keeping tabs on everyone’s whereabouts.

We also know these technologies have been used to influence and manipulate people’s thoughts, beliefs, and behavior. Up until now, however, all of that manipulation has been covert. The system that’s being erected now is unique and new in that the forced compliance will be, in many cases, overt — blatant and indisputable, as punishment will be tied to things like your personal finances and travel privileges. 

Clearly, the vaccine passport is a platform to which they can add central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). So, as an example, the government could put out a political narrative, and if you vocalize disagreement, there goes access to your bank account. Or your travel privileges. Or your loan application.

With Google-based smart homes, it’s not even impossible to foresee a future in which you could simply be locked inside your home if you were to be labeled a dissenter. Or locked out of your home. Or they could shut off your utilities.

The possibilities to punish dissenters are endless when everyone and every THING is digitally identifiable, trackable and wirelessly connected. With a single keystroke, someone you don’t know can shut down your life, rendering you homeless and helpless.

Chances are, there won’t even be a live person anywhere for you to contact with your grievances. Much of the system will be run by artificial intelligence and various algorithms. It’s important to realize that if we accept vaccine passports, we’re basically giving our consent to everything that comes after, Corbishley warns. We’re accepting that this is our future.

Why We Must Reject Digital IDs and CBDCs

We must also remain alert to the rollout of other control mechanisms that are just as problematic as the vaccine passports, especially digital IDs and CBDCs, but also any number of other digital and biometric controls. As explained by Corbishley:

“Right now, in Canada, we've got the premier of Ontario saying that they are going to withdraw the vaccine passports. We've got Alberta saying it's going to withdraw the vaccine passports.

This is the message we're getting from all over the Western world. It's like, ‘It's time to take a step back. We are now going to let you live your life. We're going to let some kind of normality return.’

You're seeing Scandinavia talking about doing away with vaccine passports altogether. So, it's interesting to see some countries using that language. But I think you have to be very careful because as they're talking about doing this, they're ushering in digital identity systems, which are going to be on a much grander scale than the vaccine passports ...

They are instituting digital identity that is going to allow not just this kind of control of your vaccine status, but control of your tax records, control of your employment records ... And they will include ... your vaccine status. So, it's extremely disingenuous. I think they are misleading their populations in a very dark way ...

All of these things are happening, but the ultimate step is probably the central bank digital currencies, which are likely to come on board in the next three to five years.

The chairman of the Bank of International Settlements, Agustín Carstens, who used to be the chairman of the Bank of Mexico, openly said that the wonderful thing about central bank digital currencies is that it allows them to track everything you do.

What he didn't say is that it allows them to deactivate an account. It allows them to stop people from being able to transact. They didn't go that far. But he said that this is so different from cash. So yeah, people are not realizing just how this control grid is being built, little by little, piece by piece, but they need to start paying attention before it's too late.”

They’re Building a Social Credit System

By now, many are familiar with the social credit system in China or have at least heard of it. How does this system compare or relate to vaccine passports and digital IDs?

“I think that the social credit system in China is, to a certain extent, a template. It's where governments probably want to go. They would like to be able to use the new technologies we have to nudge people into the right sorts of behaviors without having to use more overt punishment.

You can either reward people for doing the right sort of things, or you can give them a little digital spank every now and then when they're doing the wrong sort of things. I think that that is where China is leading the way.

Ironically, in the research I did for my book, I found that while China’s ambitions with the credit social credit system are essentially unfettered — they want total control — they're not there yet.

They're still running quite a few pilot schemes. So, it depends where you are in China, the extent to which you are exposed to this kind of system, where you're getting points for good behavior and where you're getting points deducted for bad behavior.

But the template is there. You've also got companies like Ant Financial and Tencent. These are the equivalents of Google, Facebook, whatever, that are running their own social credits schemes within their own little universe. So, it's a very complex situation in China. It's not as complete as some might believe, but the intention, the ambition, is huge.

I would say that we are definitely seeing examples of this beginning to feed through into the West. We're seeing banks talk about using our social media behavior to determine our credit score, which is very similar to what they're doing in China. There's clearly the means, and there's clearly a desire to push in that direction.”

Unity Is the Challenge of Our Lifetime

The challenge we now face is that, to have any chance of preventing this control grid, we need to be unified. The problem is, many simply aren’t able to see the dangers. Most people under the age of 30 are used to doing just about everything on their phones, and the convenience of digital IDs and digital banking is alluring.

Organizations such as the World Economic Forum and many of the central banks that are pushing the rollout of this control grid can also make it impossible or near-impossible to live without a digital ID and CBDCs. Already, we’ve seen leaders saying, out loud, that their goal is to make life as difficult and inconvenient as possible for anyone without a vaccine passport. They’ll do the same for digital IDs and CBDCs.

“One of the best examples is Italy,” Corbishley says. “If you want to see a country that has really gone into sixth gear with the vaccine passports, it’s Italy. They’ve said, ‘Look, if you don't have this document, you cannot work. You cannot get on a bus and go across town. You cannot get on the metro. You cannot access retail premises apart from supermarkets, pharmacies, petrol stations and pet stores.’

You have basically closed down, narrowed down the existence to such a limited one that most people end up just saying, ‘OK, let's do it. I don't have an alternative. I'm not going to survive this way.’

If you have a mortgage and your finances are already tight, and your government is telling you, you're not going to be able to work, most people crumble, and so they're able to do it ...

A journalist in Canada was talking about the truckers, the Freedom Convoy. He was saying, ‘These guys don't represent Canadians; 90% of Canadians have taken the vaccine and they're all perfectly happy with the restrictions, the mandates.’ It's like, how do you know how many of those 90% actually took the vaccine because they had no choice? It was a very disingenuous argument.”

How to Prepare for the Inevitable

While the situation is bleak and dire, Corbishley doesn’t believe vaccine passports, digital IDs and CBDCs are inevitable. “I think we're in the midst of a major battle,” he says.

The question is, how can we win when all the cards seem stacked against us?

“I think that we have to, No. 1, inform as many people as possible. That's why I wrote the book. I wrote the book hoping to reach people who maybe had been vaccinated, but were beginning to have certain doubts, people who were on the fence.

I mean, I know plenty of people who have had two shots, who are wary about having a third one. I know plenty of people who have had two shots, have had Omicron, and they're now thinking, ‘Why the heck am I having to take a third shot?’ People are beginning to question this.

I think that we are in the midst of what can only be described as an existential battle. If we lose this battle, it can be very difficult, as individuals, to protect ourselves because the degree of control they will have over us is going to be huge.

I think there will be this creation of a parallel community, a parallel society, where people are able to function. We're seeing signs of bartering beginning to take place within a community like that in Italy. They are surviving as best they can — and we're talking about millions of people who haven't crumbled. They've not given way yet.

That gives me a certain amount of hope. I think the fact that people have grown tired of the restrictions means that government is having to, to a certain extent, reconsider, but at the same time, they are pushing through digital IDs.

I think this is what is really important for people to understand. While they’re saying, ‘We are going to abandon the vaccine passports,’ in most countries where they're saying this, that is not the case. In the U.K., they've not done that. They have simply shifted from a mandatory vaccine passport to a voluntary vaccine passport.

You've got vaccine passports very much in use for international travel. So, if you're British, you want to travel to mainland Europe, if you've not got your vaccine passport, you're not going to be able to go mainland. It’s the same if you're European and want to go to the U.S.

So, there is so much happening it's hard to keep track. That is coming from somebody who spends most of his day trying to keep track of these things. If you are just someone who is working a 9-to-5 job and you get home and you've got three kids to look after, it's going to be much harder to keep abreast of these developments.

I have a certain amount of hope that they haven't won yet. But it's an immense amount of power they have. We are talking about organizations like the World Economic Forum, which represents hundreds of the most powerful companies on the planet. We're talking about the most powerful governments on the planet.

So, it's going to be a huge battle, and they've got most of the advantages in this battle. But I do think that what's happening in Canada suggests a resistance can be formed. I think that resistance is growing in Germany. It's certainly growing in Austria. The government is beginning to have second thoughts about the vaccine mandate.”

Expect Economic Collapse

There are also the growing economic risks, globally, to consider. The central banks around the world have painted themselves into a corner and they can’t get out. We are almost certain to see another financial crisis. It’s only a matter of when.

There is already clear evidence we are in the early stages of economic collapse, and that’s a parallel issue that needs to be taken into consideration when trying to predict what might happen with digital IDs and CBDCs, as they’re all connected. To prepare for an inevitable economic collapse, I would suggest focusing on improving your resiliency on a local level.

For example, make sure you have access to water supplies other than your tap, grow your own food, and develop relationships with other local growers and farmers to build your food security.

These are very basic things that can save your life when everything collapses and your dollar, drachma or euro becomes fit for use as toilet paper. Having food, water, shelter, and community makes you far more resistant to tyranny because if you don’t have these things, you need the government to provide them for you.

“I think the community is essential,” Corbishley says. “Having people who are of a similar mindset, of a similar worldview, people you can definitely count upon ...

Resilience is going to be very tough. As a result of the lockdowns, small businesses are in serious straits. They've had to take on huge amounts of debt just to weather the lockdowns … There's no doubt that large companies have much easier access to cheap debt than small companies ...

This is tragic because small businesses are a fundamental cornerstone of the community. They're a fundamental part of the global economy and, even more important than that, small businesses are run by independent people. If we begin to see a massive culling of small businesses, then we are going to see less independence and more dependence. So, that is one area which deeply concerns me ...

I think the most important thing, and the hardest thing, is to maintain your humanity. I think that is fundamental and that is why having a community around you that you love and that loves you is absolutely essential to surviving this. I don't think you can be an island and get through what’s coming.

Another thing I would suggest, if you do have money, if you have investments, is to diversify as much as possible — probably not best to have all your money in a bank, and especially not one bank ...

If you look at countries like Mexico, going through the Tequila Crisis in the 1990s, or Brazil, going through the huge hyperinflation it had, how do you survive that relatively intact? When you own real assets, you own property. Maybe you own precious metals ... In Turkey, inflation is absolutely surging and people are using gold, they are looking at cryptocurrencies. They are doing anything except keeping their money in Turkish lira.”

More Information

So, in closing, the best you can do right now is to educate yourself about the impending digital control grid, share information, resist and oppose any and all attempts to implement vaccine passports or digital IDs, take a stand for freedom, build community and prepare for deteriorating economic conditions by diversifying your monies and investments.

To learn more, be sure to pick up a copy of Corbishley’s book, “Scanned: Why Vaccine Passports and Digital IDs Will Mean the End of Privacy and Personal Freedom.”