Countries all over the world are banking on the rollout of vaccines to provide a clear route out of this pandemic.
The UAE is making great strides with its own campaign, and is on schedule to vaccinate the entire population by the end of the year.
It is ahead of the curve in its approach, but the world as a whole is now considering alternative measures to catch up with the reopening of industry.
One way to curb the risk of future outbreak would be to demand some sort of proof of vaccination on entry – a health pass or vaccine passport.
Here’s everything we know about vaccine passports so far.
You might need a vaccine passport to travel in 2021
It’s still early in the global rollout, but people who’ve had the vaccine are already at an advantage when it comes to travel.
Although some governments are still advising citizens against travelling overseas, an ever-increasing list of tourism-dependent destinations sees in the rollout an opportunity to reopen borders and lift other travel restrictions.
Poland, Estonia, Iceland, Romania, Georgia and Seychelles, among others, have already announced that they will allow proof of vaccination as an alternative to existing testing and quarantine requirements – meaning those who’ve been vaccinated can skip the harsher controls imposed on everyone else.
Saga, a cruise company that specialises in trips for the over-50s, says all travellers will now have to be fully vaccinated, while Australian airline Qantas has repeatedly said that passengers will need to show proof of vaccination before boarding flights.
It’s not just travel: vaccine passports could come into play for culture and nightlife, too.
In Israel, where nearly half of the population has received the jab, leaders have launched a ‘green badge’ system to reopen certain sectors to those who have had both doses of the vaccine. From February, badge holders have been able to access gyms, cultural events, places of worship and hotels. As the country eases lockdown, the idea is that this will soon be extended to other, higher-risk settings such as cinemas and theatres.
A host of private companies are currently working on apps that could be linked to a person’s medical records. These could then be shown at the entrance at any venue requiring proof of vaccination. You would turn up, open the app, and it would generate a QR code saying that person had been vaccinated – much like a digital ticket.
The Music Venue Trust, a charity that represents grassroots venues across the UK, believes requiring proof of either vaccination or a recent negative test is the only feasible way for concerts to take place in Britain again this year.
“Economic viable events can’t happen with social distancing,” Mark Davyd, the charity’s CEO, said. “Vaccine verification is one of a number of tools which venues can use to get back to full capacity.”
Vaccine passports are already here
In Iceland, citizens who had had two doses of the vaccine are now eligible for a certificate, while in Denmark, vaccinated travellers can now print one off the government’s website to show they have had their jabs.
The country also plans to launch a smartphone app that can be shown at passport checks to prove vaccination status. Bahrain, meanwhile, has launched its own BeAware app that contains a QR code linked to its national vaccine register.
Of course, things get a bit trickier when it comes to international travel. Right now, there is no widely recognised vaccine ‘passport’ that you can flash whenever anyone asks you to prove you’ve been vaccinated.
Each country either has its own requirements as to what constitutes proof of vaccination, or hasn’t made it clear what counts. So the best advice is to hold on to whatever documentation you receive when you get the jab, and hope that it does the trick.
However, a range of companies and institutions are now working on developing a global vaccine passport.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has launched its own Travel Pass Initiative that would allow travellers to store vaccine and testing details on a digital app. There’s also the CommonPass, a similar idea from Swiss nonprofit The Commons Project and the World Economic Forum.
The Greek prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, has urged the European Commission to create a vaccination certification programme that would allow freedom of travel within the EU for those who have had the jab.
Meanwhile, Hawaii is working on its own ‘vaccine passport’ system that could allow fully vaccinated travellers from elsewhere in the US to travel there as early as May.
And the Spanish islands of Majorca and Ibiza are urging the Spanish government to set up a pilot vaccine passport scheme to lure back British travellers.
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