Vaccine passports – evidence that you have received vaccination against COVID-19 are all set to become a reality soon. Countries such as Seychelles, Cyprus, Georgia, Romania, Poland, Iceland, and Estonia, will make it mandatory for the travellers to have vaccination records before they are allowed entry. At the same time, some others are expected to follow suit. Tech companies have already begun working on apps that will tell whether a traveller has been vaccinated or not.
However, the whole concept of vaccine passports has turned out to be a controversial one since vaccines are not available globally as of yet. “At present, the use of certification of vaccination as a requirement for travel is not advised because quite simply vaccination is just not available enough around the world and is not available certainly on an equitable basis,” said Michael Ryan, head of the WHO’s health-emergencies program, at a press conference.
Additionally, critics also say that a lack of universal vaccination certification standards could lead to the certificates being forged. However, the United States President, Joe Biden, has directed the US government departments to explore methods of certifying COVID-19 vaccination that is digital and compatible with the existing vaccination authenticating mechanisms.
CommonPass, a vaccination certification app developed in collaboration between the World Economic Forum and the Commons Project, a technology nonprofit, is already in the pipeline. It offers a scannable QR code that authenticates a person’s health status for air travel.
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