Sweden has announced that it will start developing digital vaccination certificates, which could be used for travel and possibly more, following a similar move by Denmark a day earlier.
The two Nordic countries said the coronavirus vaccine certificates were designed to enable citizens to travel abroad, but also suggested that it could be used to see if someone was vaccinated if they had something like ‘ attend a sporting or cultural event.
“With a digital vaccination certificate, it will be quick and easy to prove a completed vaccination,” Anders Ygeman, Sweden’s digital development minister, said in a statement.
The Swedish government has said it hopes 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 a register accessible to check someone’s vaccination status, which it hopes to have in place by the end of February, while providing a long-term technical solution developed.
While the Danish government has said it will postpone a final decision on whether the “corona passports” can be used for more than just travel purposes – pending more research on whether vaccinated people can still transmit the virus – the goal is that it will contribute to a gradual, healthy and appropriate reopening of Denmark ”.
“It is absolutely essential that we can start Danish society again, that companies can get back on track,” Acting Finance Minister Morten Bødskov said in a statement.
Both countries have also said that efforts will be made to make the national certificates compatible with international certificates discussed at the World Health Organization and at EU level.
The WHO has in the past pushed the idea of digital certificates for the vaccine, but said in January that it was currently opposed to it being used as a travel requirement.
Ursula von der Leyen, head of the European Commission, in January supported the idea of using certificates to identify people who had been stabbed, but added that ‘whether it gives priority or access to certain goods, it is a political and legal one to discuss at European level ”.
Christian Wigand, a spokesman for the commission, told reporters on Thursday that the issue had been “discussed at the last European Council meeting between the Heads of State and Government and it was concluded that work on a standardized, interoperative evidence of vaccination for medical purposes must continue ”.
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Asked whether countries can proceed individually, Wigand simply said that “we are always striving for more coordination, we will continue to do so, especially in terms of travel and travel restrictions”.