Spain is pressuring European Union to implement controversial ‘health passport’ for people vaccinated against coronavirus

If you have already been vaccinated against the coronavirus or think you will be able to do so in the next three months, know that it is very likely that, by the European summer, Can travel in Spain without as many restrictions as the current ones.

Desperate to recover tourism –which represents 12.5% ​​of the Spanish gross domestic product-, the Pedro Sánchez government is pressuring its partners in the European Union to put in place a health certificate, an immunity passport that allows the movement and mobility of those who are vaccinated against the coronavirus.

“An agreement has been reached at European level on the minimum common data which must contain the medical certificate, but we must promote a debate, and Spain has been promoting it from the start, on the possible future uses of these certificates or safe conducts or mobility passports ”, declared President Pedro Sánchez after the meeting of the Extraordinary European Council during which Friday by videoconference.

“The objective will be get back to normal as soon as possible and tourism without increasing health risks. And for these certificates to have an effect beyond their sanitary use, a European agreement is necessary. I don’t think we should be satisfied with bilateral solutions, ”he added.

This Tuesday, the latest figures of foreign visitors to Spain were known: in January, they came around 434,000 tourists, 89.5% less than those who did in January 2020, when the pandemic had not yet broken out.

These travelers, most of whom were French and German, gamounted to 452 million euros, 90 percent less than what Spain collected in tourism in January of last year.

The figures explain the Spanish urgency to define the criteria for this Digital Green Pass that the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, announced on Monday and which could be presented to the European Parliament on March 17.

What we know so far is that in Spain, the health passport could have three sections: one with the name, DNI, date of birth and gender of the bearer; another with information about the vaccine – its generic name, trade name, number of doses and when it was given, when would the next dose be– and a third, reserved for the country which administered the vaccine, the health center where it was applied and in the name of the person in charge. Finally, it would appear who issued the certificate, its validity and its digital version.

The document would also include other data such as negative CRP accumulated by the passport holder and if you have been through the disease before and are immune.

In israel

The proposal, which Israel has already rolled out to grant “movement permits” to those who are vaccinated thanks to their high vaccination rates, has sparked controversy in Spain where scientific and ethical arguments are contested.

For Federico de Montalvo, president of the Spanish Bioethics Committee and member of UNESCO’s International Bioethics Committee, there are epidemiological and ethical objections.

“The vaccine has not been proven to prevent the risk of transmission, although the latest data from Israel says such transmission would be more unlikely,” he said. Bugle De Montalvo, who is also a professor of law at the Universidad Pontificia Comillas.

And he adds: “There is, on the other hand, an ethical objection: there are people who do not have access to the vaccine and if, in addition, we do not give them the certificate, we would speak of a double penalty. . “

Bugle he consulted the Spanish Vaccination Association, where its president, Amós García Rojas, believes that the health passport does not make sense: “If the vaccine is not compulsory, how are we going to issue an immune passport? It’s a contradiction, ”he said.

“Also, the vaccine prevents disease but we don’t know if it prevents infection. What does it mean? That I can be vaccinated, come into contact with the virus, not get sick but get infected and be a transmitter. What is the immune passport used for? “García Rojas wonders.

“And the third aspect: the immune passport will mean that the citizens of the rich countries, who are the ones who have access to the vaccine, will get it, while the citizens of the developing countries, who have and will have much more difficulty vaccinate, they will not get it. With which it helps to widen the gap between the rich and the poor, “says the president of the Spanish Vaccination Association.

Airlines, meanwhile, are preparing. “Any initiative that facilitates the recovery of trips in complete safety and mobility within a common framework that generates customer confidence it will always be welcome and, in fact, from Iberia. We are working on digitizing the documentation and tests required by each country, so that their verification is more fluid and comfortable ”, he says. Bugle Ignacio Tovar, Director of Innovation and Digital Transformation at Iberia.

-Does Iberia plan to launch its own health passport like the one some airlines are preparing to put in place, such as the Travel Pass which would come into effect from March?

-Yes, our IAG group is participating with the IATA (International Air Transport Association) in the development of the Travel Pass and we are working to launch it at the end of March on one of our routes to Latin America. At the same time, we continue to promote other similar applications, both external and internal, which we hope to activate in the coming weeks and which obey the same philosophy as the Travel Pass: that customers can safely share the documentation, information and diagnostic tests country requests them and that airlines can easily verify

-In what and from when? What kind of passenger health information will it include?

-The idea is that the Travel Pass is a global digital registration, accepted by all countries, which makes it easier for the passenger and the authorities to obtain precise information. The path to these “digital wallets” is a complex process that requires several steps: converting all restrictions, Covid tests, declarations or access forms into a 100% digital environment and, on the other hand, achieving better integration between the various agents who intervene during travel. that airlines will not have to store data, but we will be able to consult, in real time, information such as, for example, the result of a Covid test that will allow the customer to fly according to the restrictions of each destination . The cell phone will be key and absolutely safe.

-Will it be compulsory on all roads or only on those which concern countries where the incidence of infections is still high?

-As I say, it depends on what the authorities establish, but the idea is that the Travel Pass is a global, digital register, accepted by all countries and with the same criteria for all. It is a global commitment by the airline industry to reopen borders, resume travel and restore normalcy as quickly as possible. As soon as it is implemented, we will start one of our routes to Latin America and, gradually, we will extend it to the rest of our network.

Madrid. Corresponding

PB