Vaccination passports: what is the document prepared by the European Union, China and the United States for the return of tourism

The dynamics of the movement of tourists around the world have been modified by the appearance of the coronavirus. Temperature measurements, swabs, affidavits, among other procedures, are routine at terminals and borders. To solve this problem, several countries they analyze issue a vaccination passport certifying vaccination against COVID-19.

// China implemented digital health passport for international travel

Showing the document on arrival in a country would show that the person who has it does not easily transmit the virus. However, the issuance of the health passport would be virtual character and in some cases it would be necessary accompanied by a test that certifies the presence of antibodies in the immune system of the holder.

Some of the countries working to make the new passport a reality include: China, United States and the nations that make up the European Union. The Asian giant had already launched in early March a “health certificate” for citizens who wanted to leave the country.

In the United States, the administration of Joe biden evaluates at least 17 initiatives to issue digital certificates of vaccination against the coronavirus. Everything indicates that the documents will be free and will be available through mobile phone applications, which will use a scannable QR code.

// They presented to the Chamber of Deputies a project to create the “Argentine health passport”

“We want to make sure that any solution to this problem is simple, free, open source, accessible to people both digitally and in print, and designed from the ground up to protect people’s privacy,” he said. declared at a press conference. Jeffrey Zients, the White House’s COVID-19 response coordinator.

The European Union is in the process of developing a similar solution. According to a French official, the vaccination passport will be available before the start of the European summer, that is to say from mid-June. There will be two versions, one physical and one virtual and in the document the type of vaccine the person has received, whether they have ever had coronavirus and whether or not they have antibodies will be specified.

The announcement by the European Commission of the issuance of the health passport met with opposition from authorities in countries such as France and Germany, who believe that the new document could present a discriminatory bias for those who have not yet received the COVID-19 vaccine.

// Due to the coronavirus pandemic, global tourism fell to 1990 levels and fell 72%

To date, no country has signed agreements with other nations to formalize its vaccination passport. That is why, for the moment, it will only be used as a alternative aimed at facilitating health checks at borders or the airports where it is presented.

Systematizing the use of health passports and making them compulsory will be difficult because of the legal problems that this raises. First of all, do compulsory vaccination for traveling would lead to inequalities among citizens, as access to coronavirus vaccines remains limited in most countries.

Finally, access to the apps that will host users’ health data also raises doubts to the extent to which it would not be. violate the privacy of citizens. Despite these limitations, everything seems to indicate that health passports will be the document of the future for free circulation in the world.