NHS app to be used as vaccine passport in England... and possibly Wales
AN NHS app will be used as a vaccine passport once overseas travel restarts.
Speaking to Sky News, the UK Government’s Transport Secretary Grant Shapps confirmed an NHS app will be used to allow people from the UK to demonstrate whether they have had a vaccination or tested negative for the virus before they travel.
It is not immediately clear how this affects Wales and whether the same app will be used here. At the moment, the NHS app the UK Government is saying it will use cannot be downloaded in Wales.
As foreign affairs is a reserved matter to Westminster, the UK Government has been taking the lead on foreign travel this summer.
Mr Shapps told Sky: “It will be the NHS app that is used for people when they book appointments with the NHS and so on, to be able to show you’ve had a vaccine or that you’ve had testing.
“I’m working internationally with partners across the world to make sure that system can be internationally recognised.”
Though the First Minister of Wales has significant powers in terms of lockdown and asking people to quarantine on their return from foreign travel, it is the UK Government that is responsible for striking bilateral deals with foreign countries to get them to recognise any UK coronavirus passport.
First Minister Mark Drakeford has indicated that though he is hesitant about allowing overseas
travel, he will follow the UK Government’s lead in this matter.
The app will not be the NHS Covid app used when you check into venues like pubs but instead is the app used to book appointments.
The UK Government has provisionally indicated that overseas travel will start on May 17 though this is yet to be confirmed.
A “traffic light” system will be used this summer to categorise different destinations, but budding travellers do not yet know which country will be in which category.
Mr Shapps revealed that “in the next couple of weeks” he will give details of the “green list”.
Government sources said the app would not be the NHS Covid app, currently used to “check in” to venues such as pubs and restaurants for contacttracing purposes, but would instead be an NHS app used to book general appointments.
It is not yet clear how this affects Wales and whether the same app will be used here.