Thought of the Day - July 8 2021 - Vaccine Passports - Update

It has been a while since we looked at what countries around the world are doing concerning vaccine passports ( Thought of the Day - April 29 2021 - Vaccine Passports ).

Since that time a fair amount has, and has not, happened.

ISRAEL

Israel, who was one of the first to introduce a vaccine passport back in February, has suspended the use of its Green Card for domestic programs. For international travel Israel has begun issuing new documentation with proof of virus vaccination or recovery that will be valid until the end of the year - the initial pass was to expire after six months.

EUROPE

The European Union (EU) on July 1 launched the EU Digital Covid Certificate (EUDCC), also known as the ‘Green Passport’ (the exception is the Republic of Ireland who will take a few more weeks due to a recent cyber attack on the Irish Health Service Executive.) The pass permits hassle-free intra-European travel for visitors who have taken one of the vaccines approved by the European Medicines Agency (Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca, and Johnson & Johnson). This does mean other vaccines are excluded:

• CoviShield (AstraZeneca produced under license in India) is not recognized. Yet at the moment it is eligible for travel in Austria, Germany, Slovenia, Greece, Ireland and Spain, and has been widely used in Canada (over 270,000 shots have been administered across the country);

• Sputnik V has also been administered in Hungry and Slovakia (although it looks like this has been stopped in Slovakia).

The UK is in negotiation with the EU concerning passports. In parallel each country has put in place a short-term process:

• Northern Ireland for example has introduced their emergency vaccine passports COVIDCert. The interim scheme will only run between now and 19 July yet they have received many thousands of applications. "The short term interim arrangements are only for people travelling to foreign countries who require proof of double-dose vaccination up to 20 July," Health Minister Swann said. "The interim documentation will have a short-term expiry date and will be of no use to anyone travelling at a later date."

• England is following suit with their NHS Covid Pass (which is different from their NHS COVID-19 App) that provides a QR code, which lasts for 28 days.

THE USA

This map does a good job of portraying the range of approaches happening domestically in the US.

CANADA

Canada is now trialling a vaccine passport with our relaunched ArriveCAN app. The app now allows easier re-entry to Canada for citizens and residents provided you upload proof of vaccination ( Thought of the Day - June 22 2021 - First Step ). This also means provinces are being pushed to rationalize their proof of vaccination, so Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) has a fighting chance. For example:

• In June, Manitoba announced it would be one of the first provinces to provide formal immunization cards to residents who have been fully vaccinated.

• In BC you can register in the Health Gateway system to obtain a certificate (way more "official" than the piece of paper provided by London Drugs).

So in short, it looks like most of the COVID Passport activity is focussed around supplying citizens with vaccine certificates in order to simplify reentry into their home county - however, there has been very little clarity about what is required to travel to other countries in the first place.

Cheers

Cliff