The EU against the WHO: yes to free access for vaccinated American citizens
The first generation of vaccines, even if it does not cover against the variants that are spreading, nevertheless gives hope for a return to normal travel and, above all, people want to return to some form of normal life.
With many EU member states desperate to revive tourist traffic, the New York Times last night published the latest in a series of reports outlining European plans to use "vaccine passports" to try to strengthen their tax base by taking sufficient precautions to allay fears of another wave of COVID-19.
Citing an interview with European Commission head Ursula Von Der Leyen, the NYT reported that Europe plans to allow American tourists who have been fully vaccinated to visit the EU during the summer. The message was unequivocal: the interview was to be read as a "welcome back" banner for Americans eager to travel to the old continent. Von der Leyen cited "advanced talks" between US and European regulators as one of the many reasons why Europe feels justified in launching "vaccine passports" (although the NYT report avoided that language in particular) .
Technical discussions have been going on for several weeks between EU and US officials on how to practically and technologically make vaccine certificates from anywhere widely readable so that citizens can use them for unrestricted travel.
These discussions continue, Brussels officials said, and it is possible that a low-tech solution will be used in the near future to allow people to travel freely on the basis of vaccination. For example, a traveler to Europe could obtain a European “Green pass” certificate, based on the vaccine, upon arrival after presenting a bona fide certificate issued by their government.
The hope, officials said, is that this step will not soon be necessary as government-issued vaccination certificates issued by foreign governments would be acceptable and readable in the European Union and vice versa.
The European Union itself has started the process of providing its citizens with “digital green certificates”, which will indicate whether the traveler has been vaccinated against Covid-19; has recovered from the disease in recent months; or tested negative for the virus in the past few days. Europeans will be able to use them to travel without further restrictions, at least in principle, within the 27-nation bloc.
all beautiful? Not really, because there are already some good problems:
- one for communication, because the Commission, internally, with the Digital Green Pass, had undertaken NOT to issue a vaccination passport;
- an objective one because the WHO that had specifically asked NOT to issue vaccine passports, which would automatically turn against the poorest nations, also because first generation vaccines do not give certainty about the possibility of preventing the transmission of the infection;
As often happens, Von Der Leyen and her commission have moved completely regardless of the prudence recommendations of international bodies and various political parties. Surely this article will ignite the discussion with the WHO, and beyond.
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The article The EU against the WHO: yes to free access for vaccinated American citizens comes from ScenariEconomici.it .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/la-ue-contro-loms-si-all-libero-accesso-dei-cittadini-americani-vaccinati/ on Mon, 26 Apr 2021 15:58:21 +0000.