Sweden has announced it will start developing digital vaccine certificates, which can be used for travel and possibly more, following a similar move from Denmark a day earlier.
The two Nordic countries have said that the coronavirus vaccine certificates would be intended to enable citizens to travel abroad, but also indicated that they could potentially be used to check if someone has been vaccinated if, for example, they go to a sports or cultural event.
“With a digital vaccine certificate, it will be quick and easy to prove a completed vaccination,” Sweden’s digital development minister Anders Ygeman said in a statement.
The Swedish government said it hoped to have the infrastructure to issue digital certificates by June.
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Denmark, which announced its program a day earlier, said it would initially publish an online registry accessible to check a person’s vaccination status, which it hopes to have put in place by the end of February, while developing a long-term technical solution.
While the Danish government said it would delay a final decision on whether the ‘corona passports’ could be used for more than just travel purposes – pending more research into whether vaccinated people could still transmit the virus – is the goal of the gradual, healthy and appropriate reopening of Denmark ”.
“It is absolutely critical for us to restart Danish society, that companies can get back on track,” Acting Finance Minister Morten Bødskov said in a statement.
Both countries also said efforts would be made to make the national certificates compatible with international certificates being discussed at the World Health Organization and EU level.
The WHO has put forward the idea of digital certificates for the vaccine in the past, but said in January that it is against them being used as a travel requirement for the time being.
Ursula von der Leyen, head of the European Commission, backed the idea of using certificates to identify people who have had the shot in January, but added that “whether that is prioritizing or accessing certain goods, this is a political and legal decision is to be discussed at European level ”.
Christian Wigand, a spokesman for the committee, reiterated to reporters on Thursday that the issue “had been discussed at the latest meeting of the European Council between heads of state or government and concluded that work on a standardized, interoperable form of vaccination evidence for medical purposes should be continued ”.
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When asked if countries could move forward individually, Wigand said simply that “we have always pushed for more coordination, we will continue to do so, especially when it comes to travel and travel restrictions”.