Thankfully most countries in the world are coming together to fight Covid by issuing vaccines passports and insisting on their use
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jul/15/covid-vaccine-passports-fair-who-guidelines
[h=1]As global Covid vaccine passports become a reality, we have to make sure they’re fair[/h]
[FONT=GH Guardian Headline, Guardian Egyptian Web, Georgia, serif]W[/FONT]e have arrived at another of those moments, in this pandemic, where it’s critically important that countries respect a central decision-making body rather than go their own way. The issue on the table now is the use of health certificates to regulate international travel.
Sometimes, pandemic decisions need to be made locally to reflect the local context – mask-wearing in schools is an example – but sometimes they really need to be centralised. We saw what can go wrong if they’re not: for example when, in the absence of a federal policy, US states ended up bidding against each other for personal protective equipment from China.
International travel is an obvious case where coordination is needed – globally this time. For the world to get back on its feet, families need to be reunited, trade needs to resume and scientists need to travel. We can contemplate this because we have effective vaccines, and some countries have achieved complete coverage of over half of their populations. At the same time, the Delta variant is tearing around the world, driving a new spike in Covid-19 cases and deaths, and vaccine supply is hugely unequal. In the circumstances, crossing borders needs to be as frictionless as possible – so that all populations are protected but none are discriminated against. Friction will hamper recovery and doubly penalise those countries that are already at the back of the queue for vaccine supplies.
Enter health certificates. Many jurisdictions are putting these in place to control access to all kinds of services, including international travel. With an eye to global equity, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said that a negative viral test or proof of recovery from Covid-19 should be acceptable alternatives to vaccination, when it comes to crossing borders – and it has issued guidance on the use of quarantine in combination with these. But it also acknowledges that as the vaccine rollout expands, vaccination will become the preferred criterion – and rightly so. Requiring a negative test from all incoming travellers, whether they are vaccinated or not – as is the case in the US at the moment – creates friction of a different kind, since tests also have to be booked and paid for.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jul/15/covid-vaccine-passports-fair-who-guidelines
[h=1]As global Covid vaccine passports become a reality, we have to make sure they’re fair[/h]
[FONT=GH Guardian Headline, Guardian Egyptian Web, Georgia, serif]W[/FONT]e have arrived at another of those moments, in this pandemic, where it’s critically important that countries respect a central decision-making body rather than go their own way. The issue on the table now is the use of health certificates to regulate international travel.
Sometimes, pandemic decisions need to be made locally to reflect the local context – mask-wearing in schools is an example – but sometimes they really need to be centralised. We saw what can go wrong if they’re not: for example when, in the absence of a federal policy, US states ended up bidding against each other for personal protective equipment from China.
International travel is an obvious case where coordination is needed – globally this time. For the world to get back on its feet, families need to be reunited, trade needs to resume and scientists need to travel. We can contemplate this because we have effective vaccines, and some countries have achieved complete coverage of over half of their populations. At the same time, the Delta variant is tearing around the world, driving a new spike in Covid-19 cases and deaths, and vaccine supply is hugely unequal. In the circumstances, crossing borders needs to be as frictionless as possible – so that all populations are protected but none are discriminated against. Friction will hamper recovery and doubly penalise those countries that are already at the back of the queue for vaccine supplies.
Enter health certificates. Many jurisdictions are putting these in place to control access to all kinds of services, including international travel. With an eye to global equity, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said that a negative viral test or proof of recovery from Covid-19 should be acceptable alternatives to vaccination, when it comes to crossing borders – and it has issued guidance on the use of quarantine in combination with these. But it also acknowledges that as the vaccine rollout expands, vaccination will become the preferred criterion – and rightly so. Requiring a negative test from all incoming travellers, whether they are vaccinated or not – as is the case in the US at the moment – creates friction of a different kind, since tests also have to be booked and paid for.
