‘Vaccine passport idea discriminatory’

Union health minister Dr Harsh Vardhan on Friday conveyed India’s opposition to the idea of “vaccine passports” at a G7-plus session for health ministers. Vardhan said that it was still immature to implement such a move — in which only vaccinated people can travel or enter countries — as inoculations in developing countries is less than that of developed nations. “At this stage of the pandemic, it is pertinent to also discuss India’s concern over the idea of a vaccine passport. Considering the fact of the lower levels of vaccination of the population in developing countries in contrast to the developed countries and given the still-unaddressed issues related to equitable and affordable access, supply and distribution of safe and effective vaccines, India would propose that the implementation of a vaccine passport will be hugely discriminatory and disadvantageous to developing countries,” he said.