EU â€˜vaccination passportsâ€™ Green Pass for travel this summer: how they will work

Lionheart
Published on Apr 1, 2021
On Wednesday afternoon, the European Commission presented its proposal for the â€œDigital Green Certificateâ€ â€“ so-called vaccination passports â€“ to make free travel in the EU possible again this summer. https://www.eudebates.tv/debates/eu-policies/health-eu-policies/ema-investigates-astrazeneca-vaccine-and-thromboembolic-events/

Why? Because the vaccinations from unapproved companies will not be covered by the EU liability clause and quality control.

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Ylva Johansson, commissioner for internal affairs confirmed the details on Friday evening after an EU source had told Euronews hours earlier.

The source reported that EU justice commissioner Didier Reynders made it clear that member states were free to get their citizens vaccinated by other products, but they would not be allocated a licensed travel certificate unless their jab had been from an approved company, of which there are currently four. Pfizer/BioNtech, AstraZeneca, Moderna and Johnson&Johnson.

The duration of the digital green certificate should be limited to the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, the EU source said, adding that tests and quarantine will continue to be the enablers of free movement. Thus, vaccination does not become a pre-condition for free movement.

The Green Pass certificate will be available in digital and paper-based format.

Reynders indicated Thursday that data protection and possible discrimination remained key concerns for the European Commission working on a proposal for a COVID-19 travel certificate. But Friday's leak shows that there is a focus on vaccination selection.

Reynders is aiming to fast-track the proposal at the European Parliament, leading to a "binding instrument" for all member states before the summer.

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen has said it would be technically possible to develop a "green pass" within about three months using data indicating whether a person has been vaccinated, tested negative, or is immune after contracting the disease, but that many political issues must first be resolved.

The certificates could help smooth a return to air travel and possibly avoid another disastrous summer holiday season, as the tourism industry and broader economies suffer from restrictions.

Southern European countries dependent on tourism, like Greece, Spain and Portugal, support such a system, but their northern EU partners, like Germany, have reservations over whether such certificates would work.

On Wednesday, the European Commission proposed to create a Digital Green Certificate to facilitate safe free movement inside the EU during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Digital Green Certificate will serve as an assurance that a person has been vaccinated against COVID-19, received a negative test result or recovered from COVID-19. It will be available, free of charge, in digital or paper format. It will include a QR code to ensure security and authenticity of the certificate.

The EU's vaccine passport - officially called Digital Green Certificate - will be free of charge, bilingual, interoperable, secure, non-discriminatory and available in digital and physical format via QR code.

Its goal will be to facilitate "safe and free movement" inside the EU during the pandemic.

The Digital Green Certificate will comprise three distinct certificates:

Vaccination certificates, stating brand of the vaccine used, data and place of inoculation and number of doses administered.
Negative test certificates (either a NAAT/RT-PCR test or a rapid antigen test). Self-tests will be excluded for the time being.
Medical certificates for people who have recovered from COVID-19 in the last 180 days.

What about the EMA-approved stipulation?
The vaccination certificates will be based on jabs approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA). But, in a very important clarification, the Commission said that individual member states could decide whether or not they accept vaccines that EMA has not yet green-lighted. Countries like Hungary are already deploying shots from Sputnik V, from Russia, and Shinopharm from China.

"Where member states accept proof of vaccination to waive certain public health restrictions such as testing or quarantine, they would be required to accept, under the same conditions, vaccination certificates issued under the Digital Green Certificate system," the Commission said in a statement.

"This obligation would be limited to vaccines that have received EU-wide marketing authorisation, but member states can decide to accept other vaccines in addition."

The instrument will be valid in all EU countries and will be open for Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway as well as Switzerland. It will be issued to EU citizens and their family members, regardless of their nationality.

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