E.U. tables Vaccine Passport proposal

The European Union Commission has revealed the details of its COVID vaccine passport , or ‘Digital Green Certificate.’

The Commission says an E.U. level vaccine passport is needed to provide clear and universal documentation recognized by all member countries as well as airlines instead of a dizzying hodge podge of documentation.

It also cites the need to combat fraud, noting Europol has already issued an alert on the black market sale of counterfeit vaccine passports and COVID test certificates. 

Much like what is being proposed in Denmark, the GreenPass would provide a person’s vaccination status, COVID test result(s), and a certificate of recovery for those who have survived the coronavirus. 

This would allow free movement across the E.U. not just for those who are vaccinated but also those who aren’t with proof of a negative test or short term immunity for those who have had COVID.

Regarding the recovery certificate, the GreenPass proposal states it “should be issued, at the earliest, from the eleventh day after the first positive test and should be valid for not more than 180 days.” 

The E.U. Commission says the vaccine passport should be free of charge and hold the bare minimal information, namely proof of identity, vaccination status, and the date and place of vaccination. It specifies personal information cannot be retained by border services and personal health information will remain secure in the person’s country of origin. 

“Given that the personal data includes sensitive medical data, a very high level of data protection should be ensured and data minimisation principles should be preserved. In particular, the “Digital Green Certificate” framework should not require the setting up and maintenance of a database at EU level, but should allow for the decentralised verification of digitally signed interoperable certificates.” 

While the E.U, promotes the vaccine passport as a way to travel freely, what about people who choose not to be vaccinated? The proposal states they “must be able to continue to exercise their fundamental right of free movement where necessary, subject to limitations such as mandatory testing and quarantine/self-isolation.” 

That said, the proposal’s wording gets tricky on the issue of whether people who choose not to be vaccinated can get on cross border or international airlines, for example. It states “where those persons are, by other means, able to show compliance with lawful, public-health-related requirements, it cannot be a pre-condition to use cross- border passenger transport services such as airlines, trains, coaches or ferries.” 

It also addresses the issue raised by some that a vaccine passport is just a way to force mandatory vaccinations through the back door. “In particular, this Regulation cannot be interpreted as establishing an obligation or right to be vaccinated.” 

As for children for whom no vaccine exists yet, the proposal says they “should be able to receive a test or recovery certificate, which could also be received by their parents on their behalf.”

The E.U. Commission has also put a time limit on the vaccine passport requirement saying it should be suspended once the World Health Organization declares the pandemic over. However, it reserves the right to reimplement a vaccine passport in the event of the WHO declaring another pandemic in the future. It also says the entire regulation will be reviewed “One year after the WHO has declared the COVID-19 pandemic to have ended.”