The Telegraph
Sweden must develop ‘vaccination passports’ with which you can travel and meet friends
Sweden must follow its neighbor Denmark and develop digital ‘vaccination certificates’ that residents can use to travel overseas, meet an elderly family member in a care home or even just eat in a restaurant. ” A vaccination certificate is probably just as desirable as being vaccinated, ” Sweden’s health minister Lena Hallengren told a news conference. She said certificates, held on residents’ phones, could be used as a vaccine passport, ‘to travel abroad on holiday or to meet a loved one’. Everyone vaccinated in Sweden already has the right to receive a certificate from the vaccine provider, but the digital certificate will put it on their phones. Anders Ygeman, Sweden’s digital development minister, said the plan was for the certificates to be available by June 1. “Our goal is for the work to be done as quickly as possible, and for the digital infrastructure to be in place by the summer,” he said. “When Sweden and the countries around us start to open up, it will probably be necessary to have a vaccination certificate to travel and participate in other activities.” He predicted that businesses such as restaurants would in future need proof of customer vaccination. The announcement comes a day after Denmark announced a similar scheme, which the acting finance minister, Morten Bødskov, described as ‘an extra passport you can have on your cellphone, showing documents for which you were vaccinated’. Denmark has said it intends to have its digital passport ready “within three to four months”. Businesses in Denmark have been campaigning for digital passports for several months, arguing that it is possible to open shops, restaurants and other businesses more quickly. ‘By using the digital advantage we have, we can allow travel and participation in the cultural life of Denmark. We will benefit from the corona passport for many years to come, ”said Lars Sandahl Sørensen, CEO of the Confederation Danish Industry. Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Union Commission, told a Portuguese newspaper in January that she supported the idea of a common EU vaccination certificate. The vaccination initiative, supported by private sector companies such as Microsoft, Salesforce and Oracle, aims to provide “participating health organizations” with digital access to vaccination records so that those who are vaccinated can obtain a certificate that they in a digital wallet or as a PDF. Sweden aims to have everyone vaccinated by the age of 16 by the last weekend in June, but delays in vaccine delivery are making it less and less likely.