People want to know how they will travel and EU plans to use a mobile vaccination password, that is also in the works for other regions and countries, so we will tell you how it works.
Travel in the European Union could be favored if a new proposal from the Commission comes to fruition: To create a Digital Green Certification. This document would serve as a vaccination passport to show whether citizens have had their vaccinations, which ones, and whether they have been tested for Covid-19. The passport could be carried on a cell phone.
The coronavirus pandemic has wiped out most social gatherings, as well as a large part of the businesses that made their living from such gatherings. Leisure establishments make up a large part of the affected businesses, as well as all those related to tourism. The service sector is currently struggling to recover its losses and is hoping for a relaxation of travel restrictions. A possible vaccination passport would contribute to this.
All the individual’s data related to Covid-19 on the mobile vaccination passport
This is not the first time that Europe has talked about a passport to facilitate the movement of citizens, as it is a demand of many institutions, both public and private. The European Union was studying this measure, highlighting its usefulness and also the risks, especially those related to privacy. And it has already issued the first proposal to create a certificate that unifies the criteria within the Union.
As communicated by the European Union Commission, the territory is studying the implementation of a Digital Green Certificate that would facilitate the movement of citizens. This certificate would indicate all the medical information related to the coronavirus: From whether the individual has been vaccinated to the type of vaccine administered. It would also display a QR code with which authorities could access the individual’s medical status.
The idea is for the vaccination passport to be implemented throughout the European Union, as well as in Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein (the United Kingdom would be left out due to Brexit). The passport seeks to “facilitate freedom of movement during the Covid-19 pandemic”. And it would be available in two formats: Paper and digital. This second format would be the one aimed at cell phones, in the form of an app.
- The information that the possible vaccination passport would include would be:
- Name and date of birth.
- Related disease. In the present case, Covid-19 (the certificate could serve as a basis for other communicable diseases).
- Vaccination dose, name of the vaccine, and dates on which the individual was vaccinated.
- The country issuing the certificate along with its identifier.
- The Digital Green Certificate would have a unique QR code linked to the information stored in the official records.
The mobile application, in addition to the paper certificate, would give greater freedom of movement to individuals, but it would also put privacy at risk since the passport contains highly sensitive information. Also, there are risks of discrimination, as citizens could be banned from certain activities after showing their passports, even though the European Union is very clear on this point.
According to Didier Reynders, European Commissioner for Justice: “The Green Digital Certificate will not be a prerequisite for exercising the right to free movement and will not discriminate in any way”.
We must remember that this Digital Green Certificate is part of a previous initiative, its implementation is not yet approved. The Commission of the European Union hopes to have completed the formalities for the summer to facilitate the movement within Europe for the next vacations.
