Internationally agreed vaccine passport ‘some way off’, says Hancock
An internationally agreed vaccine passport for travel is still “some way off”, according to health secretary Matt Hancock.
Hancock told reporters ahead of the G7 meeting in Cornwall next week that the UK was discussing the issue with its global partners.
It comes after Boris Johnson said he was working on an international agreement for a global vaccine passport with G7 countries.
The EU announced last month that it would open up to fully vaccinated travellers over the summer with its EU Digital Covid Certificate.
Seven EU member states issued the bloc’s first vaccine certificates on Tuesday, allowing immunised holidaymakers to travel without taking Covid-19 tests.
The UK government has said repeatedly that it would likely have to implement its own vaccine passport to adhere to international standards.
“Ultimately there are a number of countries around the world that have said they’re definitely going to have a requirement to be vaccinated in order to travel,” Hancock said.
“We’re making sure that here any Brit can see their vaccine status, but we’re some way off having an internationally agreed approach for that.
“It’s something we talk about and are discussing but there’s still a lot of work to do.”
The Prime Minister told Canadian broadcaster CBC last week that “we need to have agreements on issues such as vaccine passports, COVID status certification and the rest”.
“There has to be some sort of agreement then, at the G7 level, to start, on how travel and passports are going to work going forward,” he said.