Current Affairs Brain Booster for UPSC & State PCS Examination

Topic: Vaccine Passport

Why in News?

• Israel has become the first country to introduce a certification system that allows those who have been vaccinated against Covid-19 to access certain facilities and events.
• Israel’s “vaccine passport” is meant for public facilities such as restaurants, gyms, and hotels in the country — but certification of this kind has a bearing on the full resumption of international air travel as well.

Idea of Vaccine Passport

• The idea is modelled on the proof of vaccination that several countries required even before the pandemic.
• Travellers from many African countries to the US or India are required to submit proof that they have been vaccinated against diseases such as yellow fever.
• Even though the nomenclature comes from passports, most vaccine passports have been envisaged as digital documents. They are supposed to function as proof that the holder has been vaccinated against COVID-19 and is, therefore, “safe”.

Versions of Vaccine Passport

• The International Air Transport Association — the global trade body representing airlines— is developing an app called IATA Travel Pass.
• It will provide airlines and other aviation industry stakeholders with a common platform to check for the proof of vaccination and its validity.
• Non-profit Commons Project has been trying out an app called CommonPass, which contains a passenger’s vaccination record.

Significance

• The primary benefit will be to the tourism and the hospitality industries, which are both seen as being at the heart of COVID-19 spread and are the worst hit by the pandemic.

• This includes international air travel, which suffered massively because of the outbreak.

• Another key function that vaccine passports will perform is that of digitising vaccination records across countries.
• While some countries have begun accepting proofs of vaccination to bypass quarantine norms, a common and universally accepted version of vaccine passport is yet to emerge.

Concerns

• On vaccine passports, the World Health Organisation (WHO) last month batted against the introduction of COVID-19 vaccination proofs as a requirement for international travel.
• In addition, considering that there is limited availability of vaccines, preferential vaccination of travellers could result in inadequate supplies of vaccines for priority populations considered at high risk of severe COVID-19 disease.
• Privacy concerns: These are mainly digital certificates that are accessed by a particular service provider to check for proof of vaccination, there is a possibility that they would be used by authorities to track the movement of their holders.