Will they be available in the United States in time for the summer?

After receiving the two doses of the Covid-19 vaccine, I put my appointment card in a safe. As the Senior Instructor for NATO Special Forces Training, I will need to prove my immunization status before heading to NATO Headquarters in Belgium when the in-person training resumes, probably this summer.

But my vaccine card, issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, will actually not be enough to prove that I am fully vaccinated, especially for international travel. Cards are too easy to forge.

With more than 335 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine administered to date worldwide, according to the World Health Organization, the race is on to develop a Covid-19 “vaccine passport”.

When planning my trip to NATO, I quickly learned that an official form was not yet available in the United States – and maybe not anytime soon.

There are ethical considerations with regard to vaccine passports that could determine what people can and cannot do. Vaccines are still not readily available around the world and people are said to be divided into “have” and “have not”. Earlier this week, Dr Mike Ryan, director of the WHO emergency program, said the use of vaccine certification as a travel condition “is not advised”.

Proof of immunization cards already exist for yellow fever, and I have used one for years to travel to Colombia, Ecuador or anywhere in the world as needed.

Countries like Iceland, Poland, Portugal and Cyprus have already announced plans for proof of vaccination certificates. The European Union plans to present a ‘digital digital pass’, which will combine information on vaccination, recovery from disease and test results for people who are not yet fully vaccinated, possibly starting this week. And airline Qantas has started its first customer trial of a CommonPass digital health app, which allows people to upload their negative coronavirus test results or proof of vaccination for international flights.

The United States is far from it.

The CDC currently discourages non-essential travel. A spokesperson for the CDC said the agency “has yet to issue guidelines for handling those vaccinated while traveling, and there are no established international standards for vaccines or documentation. vaccination. “

Travel is expected to be included in the CDC’s next guidelines, but the spokesperson declined to say if it would be released in time for the summer.

Some states provide proof of Covid-19 vaccine status, but this is inconsistent and can be a tedious process.

Some examples of state health departments:

• Colorado, where I was vaccinated, requires a notarized form to be emailed with a copy of your driver’s license.
• California, which administered at least 11 million doses on Friday, has a system to check immunization status, but it “is intended for use by providers and not for the general public,” according to Darrel Ng, senior adviser. in communication. for the California Covid-19 task force.
• The Florida Department of Health responded by email, noting, “People can pick up a copy of their vaccination record from their local health department or private provider. Given the high rate of “vaccine tourism” Florida faced earlier this year, it’s unclear what a person would do if they were vaccinated in Florida without being a resident.
• The New York State Department of Health did not respond to several requests.

There are companies in the United States that are developing vaccine certificates for smartphone apps. The idea is that when you travel to a country, you scan the application at border control. If it validates your immunization status or a negative test result, you can skip the country quarantine process. If you don’t have a pass, you may need to quarantine yourself, likely for 14 days at your own expense.

IBM is working on a “digital health pass” that uses blockchain for security and authentication. The IBM system will include vaccine status or test results for people who have not been vaccinated, said spokesperson Carolyn Castel of IBM Watson Health.

The plan is for the U.S. government, through the Department of Health and Human Services, CDC, or individual state health departments, to upload verified vaccine data to the digital health pass. Castel declined to say when he would be available.

So far, the CDC’s vaccine cards are the best we have. In the future, when Covid-19 vaccines become widely available, some type of vaccine certificate or passport will likely be required, not only for traveling abroad, but possibly even for participating in sporting events, theaters, hotels or take a trip on a cruise ship.