Summer holidays to Greece could be on the cards with vaccine passports
Greece’ tourism minister has raised hopes that Brits could go on summer holidays to the Mediterranean country through the use of vaccine passports.
Speaking to the Today programme, Haris Theoharis said that his government was already in early discussions with UK ministers about how such a system might work.
He said that using digital vaccine certificates could prevent wasting resources by making people take tests every time they travel.
“We don’t want to limit travel to those who have been vaccinated but since we are mandating that before travelling someone has to have a negative test result, this is a waste of resources.
“If people are vaccinated to be tested every time they travel, the need for this testing could be limited by the vaccination certificate,” Theoharis added.
Although reticent about their use within the UK, ministers have suggested that they are open to the idea of using vaccine certificates for international travel.
Last week, transport secretary Grant Shapps confirmed talks had been held with his counterparts in the US and Singapore over creation of an international vaccine certification system.
Supporters of such a programme say that it is the best way to get travel going again in a safe and secure manner.
And Theoharis pointed out that unlike test certificates, digital vaccine certificates would be much harder to forge.