UK may copy jab passports of Israel

MINISTERS want to harness Israeli expertise as they examine possible vaccination passport schemes, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

Following high-level discussions, Ministers in both countries are now preparing for talks on Israel’s innovative Green Pass scheme, which allows those who have been vaccinated or had Covid to enter places such as concerts and gyms.

The move may provide clues about how vaccination passports could work in the UK, though the Government is expected to develop its own system rather than buy Israel’s technology.

In Israel, a Green Pass shows the date the holder had a jab or recovered from Covid. It is valid for six months and can be printed out or displayed on an app. A code is scanned when the person enters a venue, with children added to a parent’s pass.

The Government is expected to publish its Covid ‘certification’ review next month, with Downing Street insiders confirming the Green Pass was ‘something we’re looking very closely at’.

It comes as Prime Minister Boris Johnson faces pressure to allow British holidaymakers who have been vaccinated or tested negative to travel to countries with low infection rates.

Ministers are to consider plans that would require all travellers arriving in Britain to take a Covid test. Countries would be divided into a traffic-light system, depending on the risk of new variants and the success of the nation’s vaccine programmes.