EU TO ROLL OUT VACCINATION CERTIFICATES BY MID-JUNE

Sun 28 March 2021:

Health passports will be available in the European Union within the next two to three months in digital or paper form, the EU commissioner in charge of vaccines, Thierry Breton, told the RTL broadcaster on Sunday.

“As long as we can be sure that each European who wants to be vaccinated will have proper access to the vaccine, as will be the case in the next two to three months, it will be also good if we can introduce a certificate of health,” Breton told RTL.

The EU Commissioner presented an example of the health passport on air and explained that the document will display the person’s name, date of birth, passport number accompanied by a QR code with information about whether the person had had the COVID-19 vaccine and whether they were or had been a carrier of the virus.

People who have not had the vaccine and have to complete a PCR test upon arriving at their destination, the test status can be read via the document, Breton said.

The passport will be validated by all 27 member states of the European Union. In order to obtain the vaccination certificate, people wishing to travel will have to visit the ministry of health’s website of the EU country they would like to go to.

Breton has stressed that vaccination should not be made compulsory.

The EU produces many COVID19 vaccines, similarly to the United States, and if necessary it could churn out even more doses, the commissioner said. The EU will be able to make use of 420 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccines by July 15, Breton said.