<\/p>\n
Paris (AFP)<\/p>\n
From digital certificates to “health passports”, countries and airlines across the globe are hoping to relaunch travel by letting people prove their Covid-free status.<\/p>\n
But with patchy vaccine access around the world and mounting concerns over data privacy, questions are swirling about how the measures will work in practice.<\/p>\n
– There’s an app for that? –<\/p>\n
Most programmes under development are geared towards facilitating travel and come in the form of smartphone apps with varying criteria for a clean bill of health.<\/p>\n
Vaccine passports, for example, are a popular way to approach proof of immunity with jab rollouts underway across the globe.<\/p>\n
There are also apps that accept positive antibody tests as proof of immunity for those who have had the virus and recovered.<\/p>\n
But the World Health Organization has warned that there is no evidence to show that recovered Covid sufferers with antibodies are protected from a second infection.<\/p>\n
French President Emmanuel Macron recently suggested yet another, more localised form of Covid-free permission slip: the so-called “health pass”.<\/p>\n
This certification would only be valid within France’s borders but would allow a fully vaccinated person to, for example, eat in restaurants and attend certain events.<\/p>\n
– Where can I sign up? –<\/p>\n
This week China launched a digital health certificate for its 1.3 billion citizens that shows the holder’s vaccine status and virus test results.<\/p>\n
Greece and Cyprus have vaccination passports specifically for travel to and from Israel, which has fully vaccinated 44 percent of its population.<\/p>\n
Denmark and Sweden are also looking to launch health passports soon, with the European Union promising to propose a “green pass” to ease movement within the entire Union despite resistance from France and Germany.<\/p>\n
– Is it an official travel document? –<\/p>\n
No, and there is currently no effort underway to establish a required document to travel between countries.<\/p>\n
The Chinese health passport is an attempt to make it easier for its citizens to travel abroad, but without recognition from other countries it is of little use.<\/p>\n
For the moment, the applications are meant to facilitate various health checks still in place at different borders, with airlines among major proponents.<\/p>\n
Through several of its member carriers, the International Air Transport Association has been offering a digital pass allowing passengers to easily prove their health status before boarding.<\/p>\n
– Can we make it official? –<\/p>\n
Making health passports stricter or requiring them for travel could invite legal challenges.<\/p>\n
A major worry is that banning unvaccinated people from travelling would exacerbate inequality since access to jabs is far from universal.<\/p>\n
There are also concerns over how applications would access users’ personal data.<\/p>\n
In France, there is already an official database of citizens who have been vaccinated against Covid-19, approved by the country’s privacy watchdog.<\/p>\n
However, the body has warned it will re-examine the issue should the database be put to use in the context of a health passport.<\/p>\n
\u00a9 2021 AFP<\/p>\n