Denmark is set to introduce a government-sponsored coronavirus vaccine passport in coordination with airlines early this year, a national Danish broadcaster has revealed.
The Ministry of Health in Denmark will launch Covid-19 vaccine passport that can be downloaded and printed from a public health website, the government said in an email to the Danish Broadcasting Corporation reported on Friday.
“It is expected that there may be requirements from other countries for the presentation of vaccine documentation upon entry. Here, a Danish vaccine passport can be used,” the Ministry of Health wrote in an email to the broadcaster.
The Danish government said that it is “working on a Covid-19 vaccine passport which is expected to be ready in early 2021.”
The ministry said that it will update the form depending on the future analysis of how long the vaccine is deemed to be effective against the coronavirus.
The section head for Transport at the Confederation of Danish Industry, Michael Svane, backed the move, saying: “A vaccination passport is the way for us to put the restrictions behind us and to a much greater extent get out and fly.”
The idea of vaccination passports has been gaining traction amongst elites in Europe and the United Kingdom, with former British prime minister Tony Blair calling for the immediate implementation of a “form of a health passport”.
“I know all the objections, but it will happen. It’s the only way the world will function and for lockdowns to no longer be the sole course of action,” Blair said.
Some airlines have already admitted that they plan on requiring vaccination passports to travel internationally, with the CEO of Australian airliner Qantas, Alan Joyce, saying in November that proof of inoculation would be a “necessity” to fly on the company’s aeroplanes.
Internationalist organisations have also been promulgating the idea of vaccine passports, with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Economic Forum (WEC) both looking into the idea.
The WHO is currently developing “smart vaccination certificates” that will create digital vaccination documents.
“Having trustworthy and reliable proof of vaccination for COVID-19 vaccine will be essential for public health purposes, such as studies on vaccine effectiveness, vaccine impact, coverage monitoring and monitoring of adverse events following immunization,” the World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe told Newsweek in December.
The World Economic Forum alongside the Commons Project has also been working with airlines such as Cathay Pacific, JetBlue, Lufthansa, Swiss Airlines, United Airlines, and Virgin Atlantic to develop a “CommonPass” app that would show airlines a travellers vaccination status in the form of a QR code.
Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter here: @KurtZindulka
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