Some destinations – including Seychelles, Cyprus and Romania – have already lifted quarantine requirements for visitors who can prove they are vaccinated. Others, like Iceland and Hungary, have opened up to people who have recovered from Covid-19.
This raises the prospect that proof of inoculation or immunity could be the golden ticket to restarting travel and looks like good news for people eager to book summer holidays after months of blocking, especially as vaccines are launched. gains strength.
They could open restaurants, bars, cinemas and other leisure and entertainment facilities that closed last year left many on the verge of – or already victims – of financial ruin.
Technology companies like IBM are also trying to take action, developing apps for smartphones or digital wallets where individuals can send details of Covid-19 tests and vaccines. They are gaining the support of key players in the travel industry.
This week, Zurab Pololikashvili, secretary general of the United Nations World Tourism Organization, called for the global adoption of vaccination passports as part of broader measures he said were essential to getting the world moving again.
“The launch of vaccines is a step in the right direction, but the restart of tourism cannot wait,” he said at a meeting of the WTO Global Tourism Crisis Committee in Madrid. “Vaccines should be part of a broader and more coordinated approach that includes certificates and passes for safe international travel.”
‘Fundamental priority’
But the concept of immunity passports remains deeply controversial, and anyone who bets on it for the summer vacation of 2021 may be disappointed.
While there is a strong case that globally recognized inoculation documentation could help reconnect the planet, there are still fears about the protection they actually offer, how they can be abused and what that means for those who are still waiting for the injections.
Questions also remain as to whether they would become mandatory for any trip and how personal data would be securely shared.
Calls from several European countries to create an internationally recognized vaccination certificate this week prompted the European Union to debate the measure, even as Covid-19’s deadly waves continue to devastate the continent.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis wrote to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in early January, emphasizing that the need for such universally accepted documentation was a “fundamental priority for all of us”.
“Although we are not going to make vaccination mandatory or a prerequisite for travel, people who have been vaccinated must be free to travel,” wrote Mitsotakis. “This will be a positive incentive for citizens to be encouraged to get vaccinated, the only way to guarantee a return to normality.”
During the late summer of 2020, some borders were opened within the EU, allowing tourists to seek a dose of sun and in countries dependent on tourism to recover some losses. There are fears that, without freedom of movement in 2021, the economic impact could be disastrous.
These calls were received with caution by other EU members.
Discussing the issue in Brussels on Thursday, they agreed on the need for cross-border cooperation in vaccine certifications, but worried that using them to allow travel could result in treating unvaccinated people as second-class citizens.
This can lead to scenarios where restaurants or bars require proof of vaccination from customers looking for a glass of wine or seeing travel agencies preventing non-vaccinated people from accessing their services.
Unknown vaccines
It is something that is already being seen, with airlines like Australia’s Qantas and companies like Britain’s Saga Cruises insisting that only vaccinated passengers will be allowed to travel internationally.
Von der Leyen told the EU parliament on Thursday that there were concerns about the vaccine’s unknowns, such as whether the inoculated ones could still carry and transmit the coronavirus and how long the protection lasts.
“And then the political issue,” she added. “How do you ensure that you respect the rights of those who have not had access to the vaccine, and what alternatives do you offer for those who have legitimate reasons for not receiving the vaccine?”
Concerns about balancing the need to reopen borders with the justice of allowing the inoculated to trot around the world while others continue to face the blockade and the risk of infection were expressed earlier this month by the World Health Organization.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of WHO, said last week that he was skeptical about the dividing effect that passports for vaccines could have.
“There are two pressing issues that need special attention and for which we ask for your opinion today,” he said at a meeting of the WHO emergency committee. “The first is the recent emergence of new variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus; and the second is the potential use of vaccination and test certificates for international travel.
“A theme unites the two issues: solidarity. We cannot afford to prioritize or punish certain groups or countries.
‘Too early’ to book
These inequalities, of course, are already a feature of current travel restrictions.
Exclusive Maldivian resorts, for example, have been open to everyone for several months, although the high price and the current premium price to get there restrict access to everyone except the wealthy.
But even as the debate continues on how to implement, control and enforce immunity certification – if any – the question may remain debatable for those hoping to plan an escape from the summer of 2021.
In the United Kingdom, the first country to start vaccination, infection rates continue to gallop, despite increased restrictions in place since late December, prompting government officials to warn that international holidays remain uncertain this summer.
UK health minister Matt Hancock said on Monday that it was “too early” to book a trip before September, when the majority of the population is due to be vaccinated. He advised UK citizens to plan holidays in their own country instead.
Even this can be optimistic. With major events on the UK calendar, such as the 2021 Glastonbury Festival, having already been canceled due to uncertainties, there is a real possibility that summer holidays at home will also be canceled.
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