Continued from page 28 It warned: “Introducing a


requirement of vaccination as a condition for travel has the potential to hinder equitable global access to a limited vaccine supply and would be unlikely to maximise the benefits of vaccination for individual societies and overall global health.” The organisation also


highlighted a legal issue, noting that the 196 countries signed up to the WHO’s International Health Regulations “are expected to abide by stipulations concerning the introduction of a proof of vaccination for international travellers”. Under the IHRs, “yellow


fever is currently the only disease for which countries can require proof of vaccination for international travellers”. “Should the requirement of


proof of Covid-19 vaccination for international travellers be introduced in future . . . vaccines must be universally available.” This does not mean


vaccination certification won’t become one way to facilitate travel. But the barriers may take longer to surmount than some media reports suggest. These include the technical


issues. The WHO notes: “Vaccination status can easily be captured via digital means, [but] the ability to uniquely identify an individual and validate vaccination status requires international cooperation, orchestration across complex systems and widespread adoption of open interoperability standards to support secure data access or exchange. “A digital vaccination


certificate will additionally have to support the needs of national immunisation programmes.”


Health experts seek evidence of drop in transmission


Global public health officials have cautioned against a rush to introduce vaccination certificates for travellers. Dr Ninglan Wong, acting head


of border risk dissemination management at the World Health Organization, said travellers “are not a priority group for vaccination”. Addressing a Global Travel


Resilience and Crisis Management Centre (GTRCMC) conference


online, Dr Wong said: “There are still critical unknowns regarding the efficacy of vaccination in reducing transmission.” She suggested: “Preferential


vaccination of travellers could result in inadequate supplies for priority populations due to the limited availability of vaccines.” Dr Lisa Indar, director for disease


prevention and control at the Caribbean Public Health Agency, agreed, saying: “We can’t recommend cessation of quarantine for the vac- cinated because there is not enough evidence to say it prevents transmis- sion. We need more evidence of vaccines lowering transmission.”


Edmund Bartlett


Edmund Bartlett, tourism


minister of Jamaica and GTRCMC co-chairman, said: “There is a great disparity in the global availability of vaccines. Developing countries have received limited supplies – 130 countries have not been delivered a single dose of vaccine.”


EU proposes Green Pass to facilitate ‘safe travel’


Ian Taylor


The EU moved quickly on plans to develop a Covid-19 vaccination ‘certificate’ following a summit last week, with EU president Ursula von der Leyen proposing a digital ‘Green Pass’ on Monday. Von der Leyen revealed: “We’ll


present this month a legislative proposal for a Digital Green Pass . . . to provide proof that a person has been vaccinated [or the] results of tests for those who couldn’t get a vaccine yet.” She said: “The aim is to gradually


enable [people] to move safely in the EU or abroad.” However, EU leaders were more


cautious on the immediate prospects for certification for travellers in the wake of the European Council summit. A council statement said only: “We call for work to continue on a common approach to vaccination certificates and will come back to this issue.” Council president Charles Michel


26 4 MARCH 2021


said: “We discussed vaccination certificates [and] agreed to continue work on a common approach. More work needs to be done on digitalisation and on cooperation with the World Health Organization.” EU heads of state said they had


reached consensus on creating a standard digital ‘vaccination certificate’. Von der Leyen said the “technical aspects” of certification would take “at least three months”, arguing: “That is important so expectations are not too high.” She said the EC would coordinate


standards and create “a gateway to connect the different national solutions” so that information “is interoperable over time”. But the consensus did not extend


to use of the vaccination certificates. Von der Leyen said: “The


decision on what you are able to do with a vaccination certificate is to be decided within each country.” French president Emmanuel


Ursula von der Leyen


Macron warned: “I will not accept a system that conditions access to this or that country on a certificate.” EU leaders agreed last month


to coordinate non-essential travel restrictions, but governments including Germany have unilaterally imposed border restrictions to combat the spread of Covid-19 variants. German chancellor Angela Merkel


insisted: “We are forced to introduce certain restrictions if there are high incidence areas or mutation areas.”


travelweekly.co.uk


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