EU mulls Covid certificates to open up travel

The European Parliament on Thursday agreed with plans for a Covid-19 certificate and how it should work, taking the EU closer to launching a document to open up travel within the bloc. Europe intends to have a certificate showing the bearer’s vaccination status, Covid-19 test results and/or evidence of having survived the disease up until June, in time for the continent’s summer vacation period.

While technical work has been ongoing to ensure the certificate is recognised across all 27 EU member states, final details have to be worked out involving capitals, the European Commission and the parliament.

The first change MEPs have called for to a commission proposal is the name. Instead of a “digital green certificate” they want to call it an “EU Covid-19 certificate” - to avoid any implication of it becoming a “vaccine passport”.

They said the document should “neither serve as travel document nor become a precondition to exercise the right to free movement” and should only be in use for 12 months.

Stressing that the certificate should not result in discrimination, parliament demanded that Covid-19 tests for travel should be free of charge.

The parliament’s negotiation position was announced on Thursday following a vote late on Wednesday, with 540 MEPs in favour, 119 against, and 31 abstentions. European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen welcomed the result, but ignored the proposed renaming of the certificate.

82% of vaccines given in richer countries: WHO

The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) has pointed out that more than 1 billion doses of Covid-19 vaccines have been administered globally, but as much as 82% of them were given in high and upper-middle-income countries.