BEIJING, July 1 (Xinhua)-According to a comprehensive report, from July 1, the European Union will officially launch the digital vaccine passport, which will usher in another major measure on the road to coping with the epidemic. After arriving at the airport, passengers can quickly complete the relevant verification by simply turning on their mobile phones and showing their digital vaccine passports in App version.
For several months, the EU has been busy promoting this "green passport" in its member countries, hoping to enhance people’s willingness and convenience to travel abroad, especially to restore the tourism industry frustrated by the COVID-19 epidemic and boost economic recovery.
Officially opened!
You can pass the "quarantine" by swiping your mobile phone.
From July 1st, the EU will officially launch the digital vaccine passport. Digital passport with uniform specifications in the European Union, also known as "Digital Green Certificate". The passport can be used if the passenger’s Covid-19 screening result is negative, he has been infected but recovered or has been vaccinated.
When scanning the barcode displayed by the App, the frontier quarantine officers can immediately know the name, date of birth, what kind of vaccine to vaccinate and the date of vaccination.
At present, the application scope of digital vaccine passport covers 27 member States of the European Union, Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein.
Summer is the traditional tourist season in Europe. After being blocked by the epidemic for nearly two years, many people can’t wait to travel abroad. So far, Germany has issued tens of millions of vaccination certificates, and people can directly scan and convert them into digital vaccine passports that are popular throughout Europe with their mobile phones.
The EU said that the current EU digital vaccine passport is valid for 12 months, counting from the date of official launch on July 1, 2021. The EU regards this document as an interim measure to restore freedom of movement in the region.
The EU has repeatedly stressed that once the COVID-19 pandemic is over, it will suspend the issuance of this health passport.
"Green Card" Promotes Tourism Recovery?
But there are still these risks.
However, the introduction of digital vaccine passports in the European Union has brought some benefits, but it is also accompanied by risks.
Freedom of travel has been suspended for more than a year since the outbreak in Europe. The implementation of digital vaccine passport aims at restoring freedom of travel and promoting and easing freedom of movement.
Didier Reynders, member of the European Commission in charge of legal affairs, said that the implementation of digital vaccine passports is good news for citizens of all EU member States, which can ensure people to move freely in a state of "complete health and safety".
At the same time, this plan will also strongly support economic sectors such as transportation, which relies on free flow, and help revive the economy.
However, at the moment when the epidemic situation in COVID-19 is still not completely over, the use of digital vaccine passports is still accompanied by the risk of virus transmission.
At present, there is no conclusive evidence that people who have been vaccinated will not carry the virus and spread it to others.
Another controversial point is that from the legal point of view, the concept of digital vaccine passport is also problematic. It violates data privacy and inevitably increases the possibility that personal information will fall into the hands of criminals.
However, the EU has previously stated that it and WHO are working with technical experts to develop the digital health certificate to ensure privacy protection and deal with any cybersecurity issues related to citizens’ health data.
Check in for three hours?
International aviation agencies worry about airport chaos
It is expected that the full launch of the digital vaccine passport will attract more people from the EU to travel, but at the same time, it also worries the tourism and aviation industries.
A few days ago, the International Airport Association (ACI), the European Aviation Association (A4E), the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and the European Association of Regional Airlines (ERA) pointed out in a letter to EU leaders that the vaccine pass schemes in European countries are complicated and the situation is very worrying.
In their joint letter, they wrote, "With the gradual increase of air passenger traffic in the next few weeks, the risk of chaos at European airports is real."
One of the signatories, Rafael Schwarczman, Vice President of IATA Europe, said that after the outbreak of COVID-19, the time for checking in at the airport has increased from 1 to 1.5 hours before the outbreak to 3 hours.
He said that if countries do not take emergency actions and the passenger volume at the airport returns to the pre-epidemic level, the waiting time at the airport may soar to an unacceptable five to eight hours.
According to the letter, the only way to avoid long queues and delays at the airport during the peak summer season is to let the passengers submit their e-passports and entry information forms by remote means before they arrive at the airport.
The letter stressed that the work of verifying the vaccine e-passport and other related information must and can only be carried out in the country where the passengers leave, not in their destination country; At the same time, health data should be managed by governments of all countries, and equipment for checking the QR code scanning system should be provided.
关于作者