EU vaccine passports may be introduced this summer
DIGITAL Covid-19 vaccination certificates allowing people to travel in Europe may be available later this summer, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said.
The comments came as EU leaders held an online summit over the past two days to discuss Covid-19.
The 27 heads of government including Taoiseach Micheál Martin unanimously endorsed a strong declaration urging a speeding up of vaccines and also agreeing to improve supply lines to member states.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen reassured the leaders that she would ban vaccines leaving the EU if suppliers failed to deliver again on promised supplies.
She was responding to questions from the government heads, with Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi pointing out that the US had such tight vaccine export controls.
Ireland was among the member states arguing for delays on introducing “vaccine passports”, as urged by Greece and other tourism-dependent countries, to help reopen business. Mr Martin told the summit meeting the emphasis must now be on speeding up vaccine supplies and guaranteeing continuity, his spokesman said.
The EU leaders endorsed the continued ban on all non-essential travel, but yesterday the German chancellor endorsed the vaccine passport idea in principle.
“Everyone agreed that we need a digital vaccination certificate,” Ms Merkel said.
She told a press conference the policy-guiding European Commission would need about three months to deal with the technical challenges of producing a vaccine passport.
Spain and Malta backed the Greek vaccine passport moves as they are keen not to lose another full holiday season with devastating effects on jobs and the economy.
French President Emmanuel Macron said he was confident EU leaders would agree common standards for international travel this summer, including an agreement on vaccine certificates.
“None of us will accept that to attract tourists, one country would have looser rules than others and would be taking risks by making people come from the other side of the world to fill up its hotels,” Mr Macron said.
In conclusion, the leaders agreed that accelerating vaccine distribution for the EU was the most important issue.
Last night, Health Minister Stephen Donnelly announced 13 more countries have been added to the list for mandatory quarantine for arrivals.
They are Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela.