BRUSSELS: European Union leaders will agree on Thursday to work on certificates of vaccination for EU citizens who’ve had an anti-COVID shot, with southern EU nations that depend closely on tourism desperate to rescue this summer’s vacation season.
Lockdowns to slow the pandemic caused the deepest ever financial recession within the 27-nation bloc last yr, hitting the south of the EU, the place economies are often much more dependent on visitors, disproportionately hard.
With the rollout of vaccines against COVID-19 now gathering pace, some governments, like those of Greece and Spain, are pushing for quick adoption of an EU-wide certificate for those already inoculated so that people can travel again.
However, different nations, such as France and Germany, seem more reluctant, as officers there say it may create de facto vaccination obligation and can be discriminatory to those who can’t or will not take a jab.
France, where anti-vaccine sentiment is particularly strong and where the government has pledged not to make them compulsory, considers the idea of vaccine passports as “premature,” a French official mentioned on Wednesday.
Work is needed on the details, including whether it must be in digital form, be accepted globally, and at what stage of the two-step inoculation process it should be issued.
Officers mentioned the EU was working with the International Air Transport Association, which is keen to revive air travel, and with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Growth and the World Health Organization.
However travel with certificates also raised legal questions, officers mentioned, because these last in line for vaccinations could argue their freedom of movement was unjustly restricted by the often months-long queues.
EU officers also point out there is no steering yet from the WHO and EU agencies whether people who have received two shots of the COVID-19 vaccine can still carry the coronavirus and infect others, even if now not vulnerable themselves.
It was also not clear if individuals could be infectious having already fought off the coronavirus themselves, for how long they remained immune, and if they too should get certificates.
“There are still many issues we don’t know,” a senior official from one of the EU nations mentioned. “We need more time to come to a common line.”
However, time is short for nations within the south, where the hospitality sector must know what it should prepare for within the coming months. Despite the official stance that all EU governments need to clear up the issue together, some may decide to move faster individually.
Earlier in February, Greece and Israel signed a deal to ease travel restrictions to Greece for Israelis with proof of COVID-19 vaccination.
2021-02-25
