EU Preps For Vaccine Passport Framework

The European Commission said in a report that it is working on a plan to speed up vaccinations and testing to help end the pandemic faster.

The report opens with the position that this year will mark “the beginning of the end” of the pandemic, and despite the mass progress made with vaccines, the report said the continually rising infections mean there has to be more actions taken. Particularly, the commission is worried about a “potentially harsher” third wave of infections.

The commission said in the report that there’s a need for a “a renewed and united determination for Europe to act together” on speeding up vaccines and related supplies, doing more testing and sequencing in an attempt to crack down on new variations of the virus, and showing “international leadership and solidarity with its partners.”

In terms of the vaccine, the strategy thus far has involved “supporting their development, encouraging their production, and procuring their supply,” the commission said in the report. The approach will allow over 1 billion people in Europe and the surrounding area to get vaccinated. The vaccines from BioNTech/Pfizer and Moderna are slated to vaccinate 380 million people, or over 80 percent of the EU’s population.

In addition, a third vaccine by Oxford/AstraZeneca will be due by the end of the month pending review.

Going forward, the commission intends to boost vaccine rollouts via continued partnering with companies. The target is to get 80 percent of healthcare workers and those over 80 years old vaccinated by March, and 70 percent of the adult population vaccinated by the summer, the report stated.

The commission is also looking to set up vaccine certificates to show when someone has gotten vaccinated and is safe to travel, according to the report.

The commission said in the report that it wants to work on solid travel rules, which will include creating a common approach on defining incidence rates, giving particular attention to those arriving from areas with high incidence of new COVID-19 variants, and strict quarantines put in place when necessary. In addition, the EU will attend the Global Health Summit and work with other initiatives to boost the global health architecture.

There are ideas circulating, PYMNTS reported, to implement a digital immunity passport, which would prove vaccination and allow the user to travel freely. Related concerns about privacy as well as the numerous people skeptical of the vaccines still abound.