VACCINE passports are being considered by some countries, including the UK, to allow people to travel again.
Here is everything to know about vaccine passports and whether they will be needed to go on holiday.
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What is a vaccine passport?
A vaccine passport would be an app or document proving the passenger has received a coronavirus vaccine.
Other versions of a vaccine passport proposed by some governments across the globe would include an option which states that you have had a negative Covid test 72 hours prior to travel.
The World Economic Forum and the Commons Project Foundation, a Swiss nonprofit group, are currently testing a version called CommonPass.
This would allow travellers to access their testing or vaccine information with a smart phone which would then display a QR code which local authorities in your destination of choice would scan on your arrival.
Will I need one for my holiday?
In the UK, the government is considering the vaccine passports for pubs and restaurants.
They could even be needed to go to the cinema and theatre under plans being pushed by some ministers to help get “dying” businesses open again faster.
Whitehall officials have been drawing up plans to use vaccine passports to let Brits jet off abroad for their summer holidays.
And Boris Johnson hinted they could be used to unlock all sorts of activities forbidden by Covid restrictions.
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He explained: “Inevitably there will be great interest in ideas like can you show that you’ve had a vaccination against Covid, in the way sometimes you have to show you’ve had a vaccination against Yellow Fever or other diseases, in order to travel somewhere.
“I think that going to be very much in the mix down the road, I think that is going to happen.
“What I don’t think we’ll have in this country is, as it were, vaccination passports to allow you to go to say the pub or something like that.”
Matt Hancock revealed ministers are working with other countries around the world on common certificates in a bid to reopen international travel.
He told Sky News: “There are some countries around the world that are considering bringing in rules saying you can only travel if you’ve been vaccinated.
“These aren’t in place yet, but there are countries that are actively floating this idea and proposing it.
“In that case it will be important for people from the UK to be able to show whether or not they’ve been vaccinated in order to travel.
“So we’re working with countries around the world on the basis for this and how that vaccine certification can happen in a way that can be assured.”
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Which countries are considering them?
Spain is one of the countries considering vaccine passports to allow tourists free travel to the country.
While travellers without the vaccine passport will still be allowed entry, they may be forced to quarantine or have negative coronavirus tests.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis stated Greece will not establish vaccination as a mandatory requirement for travel, but “those who have been vaccinated should be free to move”.
He explained on television: “A vaccine certificate would allow you to enter Greece without being forced to provide a negative test and without any quarantine restrictions and we do intend to go down that path.
“For those who have not been vaccinated the most likely scenario is that we will request some sort of negative test, we want to make it as easy as possible for them to travel to Greece.”
British Airways is trialling a digital ‘Travel Pass’ which will allow passengers to store coronavirus test results and proof of a vaccination jab to show while travelling, but easyJet boss Johan Lundgren said they are unlikely to be needed for short-haul travel.
British pilot union BALPA has echoed this, with Brian Strutton, BALPA General Secretary, saying, “People are desperate to get travelling again, and if a vaccine passport is what is needed, then we fully support it.
“What would be better still is a globally-recognised vaccine passport.
Vaccine minister Nadhim Zahawi previously suggested that vaccine passports would be “discriminatory” and stressed scientists didn’t know for certain whether jabs could prevent people passing on the virus.
He told Sky News: “One, we don’t know the impact of the vaccines on transmission.
“Two, it would be discriminatory and I think the right thing to do is to make sure that people come forward to be vaccinated because they want to, rather than it be made in some way mandatory through a passport.
“”If other countries obviously require some form of proof, then you can ask your GP because your GP will hold your records and that will then be able to be used as your proof you’ve had the vaccine.”
