BRUSSELS (Reuters) – European Union COVID-19 certificates intended to free up travel should prevent discrimination towards those not vaccinated by including data on whether or not individuals have been tested or have recovered, according to a draft document.
The European Commission is expected to launch its final proposal for COVID-19 “green digital certificates” next week, with southern nations reliant on tourism hoping they will open up this yr’s summer season.
However, they ran into opposition from nations including Germany and Belgium, which stated vaccination is neither obligatory nor currently available to all those keen to accept it.
Whereas the proposal aims to “facilitate free movement” during the pandemic, it says any proof of vaccination must not discriminate against those who refuse the shot or cannot get inoculated.
It remained unclear how this would work in practice, as member states would still need to decide how people who did not have evidence of vaccination would be treated if they wished to cross frontiers.
The draft also leaves it up to the 27 member states to make a call on waiving travel restrictions only for those vaccinated with shots authorized for the whole bloc by the European Medicines Agency (EMA), or also for people who received jabs allowed unilaterally by specific nations.
Hungary and Slovakia have already bought the Russian Sputnik vaccine despite it not being authorized by the EMA. The agency has recommended 4 Western vaccines for use so far.
With competing goals for the proposed COVID-19 certificates, EU leaders – much criticized for a slow vaccination roll-out – are expected to have a heated discussion on the proposal later this month.
