The European Commission will present a proposal in March on creating an EU-wide digital COVID-19 vaccination passport that may allow Europeans to travel more freely over the peak summer holiday period.
Commission president Ursula von der Leyen announced the coming legislative proposal in a speech to German conservative lawmakers on Monday, providing a few more details in subsequent tweets.
The “digital green pass” would provide proof that a person has been vaccinated, results of tests for those not yet vaccinated and information on recovery for people who have contracted COVID-19.
“The aim is to gradually enable them to move safely in the European Union or abroad – for work or tourism,” she said in a tweet.
The Digital Green Pass should facilitate Europeans‘ lives.
The aim is to gradually enable them to move safely in the European Union or abroad – for work or tourism.
— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) March 1, 2021
EU Commission Vice President Margaritis Schoinas announced the “Green Pass” initiative is scheduled to be presented on March 17.
We shall present an initiative on 17 March focusing on travel and mobility: Digital green passes including information on vaccination, test results and statements of recovery; respecting data protection, security and privacy. Safe opening that preserves all sacrifices done so far https://t.co/0PyL6KXZdG
— Margaritis Schinas (@MargSchinas) March 1, 2021
EU leaders agreed last week to work on vaccine certificates, for which southern countries such as Spain and Greece are pushing to unlock tourism this summer.
However, a number of countries say it will first need to be established that vaccinated people cannot transmit the virus to others. Some countries, such as France and Belgium, also expressed concern that easing travel only for inoculated people would be unfair.
The Commission said it would seek to avoid discrimination against citizens who have not received a vaccine.
EU countries agreed in January on the basic data requirements of a vaccination certificate. A Commission spokesman said the EU executive would seek to coordinate on security standards and help connect the national health systems, Reuters reported.
PS apart from those who do not inoculate for X.Y. reasons while the vaccine is not mandatory, there are also those who are not allowed to receive a jab for medical reasons. I wonder, how the EU will solve this problem.
Not to mention the fact that there are immense delays in vaccination roll out in many EU countries, including tourism destinations like Greece, where hardly over 350,000 people in a population of 10 million have received both doses by February 28.
Maybe the EU should better solve the vaccines roll out first and then check other issues. Because there cannot be tourists traveling freely in the country, while the local population lives under restrictions.
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they had internal passports in the soviet union, too.
Totally against it!It’s also against human rights!You cannot make people have something they dont want !!
Your decision! If you dont want the vaccin, fine, but then you cant travel. How hard can it be to understand? We have to stop this pandemia or we will all be sorry in the end! The only way to stop this is vaccin.
This mindless conformism is part of the problem. How difficult is it for you to understand that the virus cannot be stopped? It can only be slowed down, temporarily, at the cost of people’s jobs and humanity.
Forced vaccinations, compulsory unemployment, loss of income, loss of housing, poor education, and ultimately damaged lives in the tens of millions…and now even more authoritarian measures established as permanent controls by the State. Are these things acceptable within democracy? Clearly not, but of course such controls were instituted within the former Soviet Union, are used in North Korea, etc.
Mindless? No! Must ask: can you see smallpox, polio or mezles around you nowadays? Yes, it takes year and it will only work if people takes the vaccin. But it will work, in the end!
The issue is what it means in the bigger picture.
A old-fashioned vaccination certificate never had any overbearing Big Brother concerns. A “Green Pass” centralised data bank is totally another question and area. The problem is that even if a Vaccination Passport – essentially what it is – works for Covid19 re Economies and Travel, what else could such a system be used for, in the Future?
Privacy and Protection of Personal Health Data is a key area which affects us all. It’s not just about Covid19.