Sweden has announced that it will start developing digital vaccine certificates, which will be used for travel and possibly more, following a similar move by Denmark a day earlier.
The two Nordic countries said coronavirus vaccine certificates would be designed to allow citizens to travel abroad, but suggested they could be used to check if someone had been vaccinated if they were participating in something like a sporting or cultural event. .
“With a digital vaccine certificate, it will be quick and easy to prove a complete vaccination,” Swedish digital development minister Anders Ygeman 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 an online register that could be accessed to check someone’s vaccination status, which it hopes to have available by the end of February, while developing a long-term technical solution.
While the Danish government has said it will overturn a final decision on whether “corona passports” could be used for more than travel purposes – pending further research into whether vaccinated people could pass on further the virus – the aim is that it will “contribute to a gradual, solid and adequate reopening of Denmark”.
“It is absolutely crucial for us to be able to restart Danish society so that companies can get back on track,” said Finance Minister Morten Bødskov in a statement.
Both countries also said that efforts will be made to make national certificates compatible with the international certificates discussed at the World Health Organization and at EU level.
The WHO launched the idea of digital vaccine certificates in the past, but in January said it was currently opposed to using them as a travel requirement.
The head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, backed in January the idea of using certificates to identify people who had the jab, but added that “whether priority or access to certain goods is given, this is a political and legal decision that to be discussed at European level ”.
Christian Wigand, a spokesman for the commission, told reporters on Thursday that the issue had been “discussed at the last meeting of the European Council of Heads of State and Government and concluded that work on a standardized, interoperable form of evidence of vaccination in medical purposes should continue ”.
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Asked if countries could move forward individually, Wigand simply said that “we have always strived to have more coordination, we will continue to do so, especially when it comes to travel and travel restrictions.”