Tech-savvy plan to get vaccine certificates

Copenhagen – The World Health Organisation (WHO) said it was considering introducing electronic vaccination certificates, as hopes for an end to the pandemic were boosted after Britain became the first country to approve use of a Covid-19 vaccine.

“We are looking very closely into the use of technology in this Covid-19 response and one of them is how can we work with members states towards something called an e-vaccination certificate,” WHO Europe expert Siddhartha Datta told an online press briefing.

Introducing such a certificate, which would make it possible to identify and monitor people who have been vaccinated, has not been finalised and would have to be drawn up in accordance with national laws, Datta said.

It would not be an immunity passport, which is supposed to assure that its carrier is protected against the disease because they have been infected and recovered.

“We do not recommend immunity passports,” said Catherine Smallwood, the WHO’s senior emergency officer for Europe.

Tech-savvy Estonia earlier this year began testing an app that could serve as a kind of digital “immunity passport”, allowing users with antibodies to show employers and others their reduced risk of spreading the coronavirus.

Britain on Wednesday became the first country to approve the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine, and the European Medicines Agency is due to announce its decision on December 29 at the latest.

The WHO’s Europe zone, which covers 53 countries including Russia, has recorded more than 19.3 million infections. –