Here's one way: The rules in NY already allow venues like baseball stadiums to ask for proof of full vaccination (i.e. 2 weeks after the second Pfizer/Moderna dose or 2 weeks after J&J) in exchange for giving those customers access to a seating section where the state's physical/social distancing and capacity limit rules are waived. There are other examples where the rules allow vaccination status to be checked in exchange for more permissive state rules. (And there's nothing in state law preventing businesses from requiring vaccination if they want to.)
For Yankee Stadium, as one example, here are their proof requirements: "(a) a CDC-approved COVID-19 Vaccination Record Card; (b) Excelsior Pass; (c) a government-issued photograph identification and proof of vaccination form; or (d) electronically stored versions of any of the foregoing."
[edit: This new system applies to Yankees games starting May 21 and later. Not sure about other venues.]
Excelsior Pass is the state's own vaccination passport app/website, which indeed isn't mandatory but which is available to anyone who gets their vaccine series in NY.
Yes, I agree this is not as practical for a small business of whatever kind.
The problem is that the vaccination record cards are trivial to forge, especially if "electronically stored version" also includes taking a photo with your phone. There are tons of photos of these cards floating around the internet. Someone with even limited photo-editing skills could slap their name on one of those images, copy it onto their phone, and an overworked ticket-checker at the stadium wouldn't tell the difference.
And I expect that this behavior would be completely in character for your standard anti-vax or covid-denier type.
You're right of course, the nonzero percentage of fraudsters isn't high enough to cause a statistically impactful problem, I suspect. The deniers who make noises about faking cards and who are actually going to go beyond talk to action can't be that numerous, despite their appeal to sensationalist journalists.
Once the pandemic is well and truly past, as is not that far in the future in places like NY, those few activist deniers' remaining impact will be even easier to handle than it is now.
For Yankee Stadium, as one example, here are their proof requirements: "(a) a CDC-approved COVID-19 Vaccination Record Card; (b) Excelsior Pass; (c) a government-issued photograph identification and proof of vaccination form; or (d) electronically stored versions of any of the foregoing."
[edit: This new system applies to Yankees games starting May 21 and later. Not sure about other venues.]
Details: https://www.mlb.com/yankees/ballpark/information/fully-vacci...
Excelsior Pass is the state's own vaccination passport app/website, which indeed isn't mandatory but which is available to anyone who gets their vaccine series in NY.
Yes, I agree this is not as practical for a small business of whatever kind.