Australia to Issue Coronavirus Vaccine Certificates, May Require ‘Vaccine Passports’

Australia’s government will issue official certificates to people who have received a Chinese coronavirus vaccine and may require “vaccine passports” for international and inter-state travel, the Canberra Times reported on Tuesday local time.

“Every Australian will have a record of their vaccination should they need it,” Australian Government Services Minister Stuart Robert said on February 7.

“It’s highly likely that a vaccination certificate or quarantine will still be required for international visitors to Australia,” Robert said of future travel conditions. Australia will launch its coronavirus vaccination campaign by the end of February.

“The elderly and other priority groups will start to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine later this month, while the AstraZeneca drug is expected to be approved by Australian regulators within weeks,” Voice of America (VOA) reported on February 8.

The Australian federal government will reportedly issue digital coronavirus vaccine certificates as proof of inoculation via a state-run smartphone health app.

“The so-called virus passports could also give Australians permission to cross state internal borders in the event of future lockdowns. Many were closed during the pandemic to curb the spread of the coronavirus, but families were separated and businesses disrupted,” VOA noted on Monday.

“Speaking last month, NSW [New South Wales] Premier Gladys Berejiklian did not rule out allowing NSW pubs and restaurants to bar patrons who had not been vaccinated,” the Canberra Times recalled on February 9.

“It’s for their own safety and the safety of others. The more people that are vaccinated, the greater the likelihood that we can have a return to normality as we know it,” Berejiklian said during a radio interview on local station 2GB in January.

The Australian state governments of NSW and Victoria closed their inter-state border in July to contain a coronavirus outbreak in Victoria. The decision marked the first time the NSW-Victoria border had been sealed off since the Spanish flu epidemic of 1919. Thousands of people cross the border every day for employment, education, and health needs.

Several other Australian states and territories have closed their borders to non-essential travel from other regions due to the pandemic. Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Western Australia, the Australian capital Territory, and the Northern Territory have all barred fellow Australians from entering their borders over the past year in an effort to curb local coronavirus transmission.

The chief executive of Australia’s largest airline, Qantas, announced in November that the carrier would implement a “no jab, no fly” policy on all of its international flights, requiring passengers to show proof of receiving a Chinese coronavirus vaccine.