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European Union leaders are divided over the development of vaccine passports to open the continent to tourism this summer.
Some countries want a Ia comprehensive approach rather than individual nations having their own certificates, while others are concerned that such documentation could result in discrimination.
The leaders of the 27 EU countries met online Thursday to kick off a two-day summit to discuss the pandemic, and although they agreed to work on vaccine certificates, they were unable to come up with a unified plan.
Angela Merkel said more knowledge is needed about the transmission of the virus by vaccinated people
Greece, where tourism contributes 25% of its GDP, has led the call for a vaccination certificate across the EU to ensure it can benefit from summer tourism.
Athens is in talks with Great Britain about the use of a digital “Green Pass”, which it has already agreed with Israel, which issues certificates for people who have had their two coronavirus hits.
Its tourism minister said Thursday that even unvaccinated Britons could visit the country, provided they tested negative in COVID-19 beforehand.
Spain, Austria and Bulgaria also support the certificate across the EU, but Vienna said it would implement its own if the EU cannot agree on anything before spring, and wants to include people who have immunity from having COVID-19 and those that tested negative.
But German Chancellor Angela Merkel doubted that vaccination certificates of any kind could work.
“First, it must be clearly resolved that the vaccinated people are no longer infectious,” he told the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
“As long as the number of people who have been vaccinated is much less than the number of people awaiting vaccination, the state should not treat the two groups differently.”
However, he offered some hope to countries pushing for certificates, saying that technical work on them should be finished by the summer.
French President Emmanuel Macron said he was concerned that vaccine certificates would discriminate
However, some countries, including France and Belgium, are concerned that vaccine certificates discriminate against those who have not been immunized.
French President Emmanuel Macron said a balance must be found and there are still ethical questions to be resolved, adding that the certificates would be unfair to young people at the end of the vaccine queue.
France is also beefing up COVID-19 measures on its border with Germany in the Moselle area, and cross-border workers must now submit negative PCR tests to pass.
Romanian President Klaus Iohannis also said the vaccine certificates would divide Europeans who have and have not received it.
Other EU countries are developing their own ways to show that people have received the vaccine, and Denmark plans to launch a digital passport to document a traveler’s vaccination status, which it said will be compatible with any future plans across the EU. .
Sweden and Finland are also planning a similar digital passport.
Greece, where 25% of GDP depends on tourism, is pushing for an EU-wide vaccine certificate
Hungary said that from March 1 it will issue a certificate of physical vaccination for any citizen who has been inoculated or has immunity to recover from COVID-19.
The UK is reviewing the use of certificates to help reopen the economy and will consider a travel certificate once the efficacy of variant vaccines is known, although ministers have acknowledged ethical concerns.
Westminster is working with the World Health Organization and other countries in an international travel framework.
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