A digital health passport or vaccine passport is necessary for all international travel. So far, the suggestion of a digital health passport is receiving mixed responses from the public. In addition, numerous institutions are creating their own vaccine passport application. Therefore, there will be several different vaccine passport applications in circulation.
The Covid-19 pandemic
The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) as a global pandemic in March of 2020. During that period, it has ravaged several countries at different times. As a result, several international borders are no longer open to tourist. The closure is necessary to curb the spread of the virus. In fact, every territory is protecting its population by their border closure.
Several vaccines are now available for distribution. Resulting in the vaccination of a large percentage of the world population. This will bring some sort of normalcy to our lives. People are confident that herd immunity will curb the spread.
There is also some skepticism about the vaccine. Some people have a wait and see attitude. Whereas some individuals are refusing to take the vaccines. As a result, the virus will not go away completely. It will be around for some time in the future. The spread of the Covid-19 will only slow down with mass vaccination. Against this background individuals require protection from persons who refuse the vaccine.
What is a Digital Health Passport?
A Digital Health Passport is a document stating that you are vaccinated from Covid-19. A universal vaccine passport will allow persons to travel freely across borders. It will also exempt travelers from testing and quarantine on arrival at their destination.
I do not know what form a digital health passport should take. But there should be collaboration between countries to create a unified document. The passport idea is floating around for some time. But nothing definite is being done for a unified system.
The US is a good example. Several companies are creating their own software. This will result in several vaccine passport applications in the market. In addition, the different applications are not compatible. As a matter of fact, the US does not have a consensus for one vaccine passport for domestic use. This complicates the creation of a unified application for international travel.
There should be an agreement among nations to arrive at a common application that would be used world-wide. Most importantly, that application should be compatible with the airline reservation system.
Reason for a vaccine passport
A digital health passport would facilitate international travel. It would provide the public with confidence in traveling. In addition, it would provide information that you are vaccinated. Therefore, quarantine would not be necessary on arrival at your destination.
Vaccinated persons in the US are issued a vaccine card. That would be cumbersome to travel and could be misplaced. Whereas a digital record is convenient and practical.
Privacy
There is another problem for a digital health passport. People are reluctant to accept a vaccine passport. People have complained about their privacy being compromised. Although a vaccine card is nothing new. During the smallpox outbreak in the 1800’s. Some public schools required evidence that people were vaccinated.