The countries of the European Union do not agree on the use of the vaccination passport

The idea of ​​creating a vaccination passport is defended by several countries be able to revive international flights and tourism, but still has detractors, in this first phase of vaccination campaigns around the world.

The precursors

Greece and Cyprus have concluded tourism agreements with Israel which allow their citizens to travel without restrictions, thanks to a “green passport“. Israel is also in talks with Malta in this regard. Sweden and Denmark announced the creation of electronic certificates specially intended for trips abroad.

Meanwhile at Estonia, passengers are exempt from quarantine on arrival if they present proof of vaccination. The same is happening in Poland, where there is even an app for these people to use.

On your side, Iceland started publishing digital documents at the end of January to facilitate travel between countries.

The divided European Union

In the European Union, Greece, concerned about its tourism industry, proposed in January to create a European “vaccination certificate” to facilitate travel within the Union. But the initiative divides the 27. Spain, Italy, Austria, Bulgaria, Denmark and Sweden are in favor, but others are more reluctant.

France considers this debate “premature”, since so far only a small part of the population has been vaccinated. Germany shares this point of view.

The World Health Organization (WHO) together with Estonia, it is developing digital vaccination certificates, but only considers them as a campaign monitoring tool. “For the momentIt excludes using them as a condition of travel.

“There are too many fundamental unknowns on the effectiveness of vaccines to reduce transmission (of the virus) and for the moment there are only a limited number of vaccines available”, underlined the emergency committee. of the WHO.

Until now, just over 222 million doses have been administered worldwide, according to a count by the AFP, for a world population of 7,800 million inhabitants. 22% of humanity also lives in countries where vaccination has not yet started.

Aerial tests

The aviation sector, strongly affected by the crisis, is one of the main promoters of the vaccination passport. Australian airline Qantas was the first in November to defend the “need“That international travelers be vaccinated before boarding.

Since then, several companies have started testing phases.

In the gulf, Emirates and Etihad will test the “IATA Travel Pass”, an application designed by the International Air Transport Association, so that passengers can check if their “vaccination meets the requirements of their destination”.

Air New Zealand airline will also review the application of a digital passport to ensure the authenticity of vaccination certificates.

Sánchez praised the progress of the European Union in the vaccination passport

The President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sanchez, welcomed this Friday the progress within the European Union to set up a passport or a certificate of vaccination against the coronavirus which facilitates mobility, an initiative which considers “impostable”For the gradual restoration of normality.

Sánchez defended this certificate during a press appearance to report on the developments and conclusions of the European Council held electronically for two days.

One of the main issues addressed by European leaders was the evolution of the coronavirus pandemic and the vaccination process, in which context all heads of state or government undertake to speed up the dosage and strengthen production capacity in Europe, Sánchez said.

Along with the analysis of these productive capacities, Community leaders discussed mobility within the EU, an aspect that Sánchez considers essential for countries highly dependent on tourism like Spain.

The President of the Spanish Government he was satisfied due to the fact that after several meetings of the Council, there is agreement to maintain the restrictions on non-essential travel but still in respect of the internal market.

(With information from AFP and EFE)

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