Vaccine passports: How Australia’s trial compares to the world

Countries are starting to roll out controversial “vaccine passports” in a bid to allow people to travel. Here’s how it could affect you.

With millions receiving COVID-19 vaccines globally, countries are starting to roll out “vaccine passports” in a bid to allow people to travel and attend large gatherings without compromising public health.

In Australia, accounting firm KPMG has urged the Morrison government to consider the practicality of a “vaccine passport” scheme to restart immigration in order to fill a labour shortage in regional areas.

Globally, vaccine passport schemes have caused controversy due to concerns over a person’s right to medical privacy.

Here’s how the rollouts of vaccine passports are playing out globally.

AUSTRALIA

Qantas began its first passenger trial of a digital “vaccine passport” system in early March. The national carrier says it will be necessary for overseas travel when Australia’s international border eventually reopens.

Qantas CEO Alan Joyce says vaccinations are a “necessity” for international travel. Picture: Brendan Radke

Qantas used the CommonPass digital health app on a government repatriation flight from Frankfurt that arrived in Darwin.

CEO Alan Joyce has said the airline views vaccinations as a “necessity” for international travel.

NEW ZEALAND

Air New Zealand is reportedly hoping to trial a digital vaccine passport in April on flights between Auckland and Sydney.

The airline said the digital passport did not use any “central database storing personal information”.

“Customer privacy is at the heart of the design … rather it is shared at the travellers’ discretion, in a safe and secure way,” the company said in a statement.

Several tech companies have been working with the World Health Organisation to create a secure digital vaccination record system.

One app, Travel Pass, developed by the International Air Transport Association, will be trialed by Air New Zealand from April to “streamline the health verification process to help customers know what they need to take their next international trip safely”.

UK

In Britain, a “COVID status certification” scheme is being developed to enable concerts and sporting matches to take place.

This would record whether people had been vaccinated, recently tested negative or had natural immunity after already suffering a bout of coronavirus.

Sports Minister Nigel Huddleston told the BBC any scheme to prove people are safe to attend mass-audience events would be “time-limited”.

The status certification system is intended for events where large numbers of people are close to each other, such as nightclubs, festivals and sports matches, the government said.

It added that it should not be used for public transport or entry to essential shops.

Pubs and restaurants, which are set to reopen indoor service from May 17, will not need to ask people’s virus status.

The state-funded health service is developing digital and non-digital ID, the government said.

A paramedic administers the AstraZeneca vaccine at a mass vaccination hub in Newcastle upon Tyne. Picture: Ian Forsyth/Getty Images

The British government is looking at events including the FA Cup Final and the

World Snooker Championship as trials to work out ways to hold mass events safely.

Other approaches being considered are improved ventilation and testing before and after events.

Former Tory cabinet minister David Davis questioned the need for the COVID passport scheme, saying British people were “not used to presenting papers — or the electronic equivalent” — to go to the pub.

“That is not what we think of our freedoms,” he said.

This comes as MPs from the ruling Conservative Party as well as the opposition Labour party have publicly opposed a domestic “vaccine passport” as discriminatory.

Labour leader Keir Starmer argued that such ID goes against British instincts, while a cross-party group of MPs has said it could deprive people of jobs and services.

Downing Street said the pilot system “could allow higher-risk settings to be opened up more safely and with more participants”.

The government also confirmed it will grade countries according to a “red, green, amber” traffic-light scheme when outbound international travel reopens on May 17 at the earliest.

People will be able to visit “green” countries for leisure, taking virus test before and after.

They will have to quarantine or self-isolate after visiting other countries.

EUROPEAN UNION

The EU Commission has brought forward its proposal for the creation of a Digital Green Certificate in a bid to restore travel for those who are vaccinated.

Thierry Breton, the European Commissioner for Internal Market, said the new documents will be used as proof that the traveller has been vaccinated or recovered from COVID-19. In the case that none of the first two has taken place, the document will show the traveller’s test results.

“We have to shift to the next gear. This will be the price for having a tourist season that I hope will be comparable to last year’s, which in the end wasn’t so bad in the context we’re in,” Breton told RTL radio and TV channel LCI.

US

There is currently no vaccine passport in the US, but it’s getting close. USA Today reports that the IATA Travel Pass is being tested among 22 airlines and is expected to be released in the US soon. It will be limited to air travel and border crossings.

The travel pass stores information on a passenger’s health, including whether they have had virus tests or vaccines.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on Friday banned the use of “vaccine passports” in the southeastern US state, citing “individual freedom.” The Republican governor’s executive order prohibits government offices from issuing any “standardized documentation” certifying that an individual has been immunized against Covid-19.

It also prohibits private companies in Florida from requiring any type of document from their customers certifying their vaccination, or immunity after they have recovered from the coronavirus.

The order by DeSantis, an ardent supporter of former president Donald Trump who is seen as a future potential presidential candidate, argues that “so-called Covid-19 vaccine passports reduce individual freedom and will harm patient privacy.” Earlier this week De Santis said such requirements imposed by the government on the private sector would be “unacceptable.” “You want to go to a movie theater. Should you have to show that? No. You want to go to a game? No. You want to go to a theme park? No. We’re not supportive of that,” he told a press conference on Monday.

The order came after The Washington Post reported that President Joe Biden’s administration is developing its own guidelines for such passports as it seeks to lift pandemic restrictions in the United States.

Such a document is also being discussed internationally as part of a bid to revive travel and tourism.

ISRAEL

Israel, which already has the world’s highest vaccination rate, introduced its “Green Pass” vaccine passport system in February.

The certificate, available as either a smartphone app or paper ID using a QR code for authentication, is the only vaccine passport in widespread use.

A healthcare worker prepares a dose of the Pfizer vaccine in Tel Aviv. Picture: AFP

The Green Pass is available to Israeli residents who been fully vaccinated and people must show it to access facilities such as hotels, gyms or theatres.

The smartphone app has raised privacy issues and concerns that a “hierarchy” will be created, leaving the unvaccinated population behind.

CHINA

China launched a system of passports in March, with citizens able to download the new certificates and use them to enter and leave the country. It is not mandatory and is only available to Chinese citizens.

It can be accessed through WeChat. According to China’s Foreign Ministry, the app would allow people both in China and overseas to verify the certificate by scanning a QR code.

China’s version of a digital certificate appears to be for international travel rather than domestic movement and it may be recognised by other countries soon.

SINGAPORE AND MALAYSIA

Malaysia and Singapore are preparing for mutual recognition of coronavirus vaccination certificates in an effort to revive travel.

Malaysia’s Hishammuddin Hussein hosted Singapore’s Vivian Balakrishnan in March, and they said Malaysia and Singapore will “work towards recognising each other’s vaccine certificates, with a view towards facilitating cross-border travel in the future.”

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations started discussing a common digital vaccine certificate.

Originally published as Vaccine passports: How Australia’s trial compares to the world