UK to lead way on vaccine passports

BRITAIN will seek to use this week’s summit to lead the way on developing a Covid certification travel scheme, under plans being considered by Ministers.

Boris Johnson has been urged to establish a globally agreed way of recognising whether passengers have been vaccinated and tested so that airlines do not have to spend time verifying their claims.

Industry figures last night warned global travel will be ‘paralysed’ in future without such a scheme in place. Proposals being examined by the Cabinet Office and Department for Transport call for ‘immediate’ alignment between countries on health certificates and for the G7 to be used to ‘agree a common approach to verifying and sharing Covid Health Certificates across borders’.

A globally accepted system needs to be developed to ‘verify that people have accurate tests or genuine vaccines,’ the document seen by The Mail on Sunday adds. ‘There does not need t o be a si ngle approach, but there need to be recognised acceptable standards.’

It comes as a report by the Tony Blair Institute today calls for people’s vaccine status to be taken into account for testing and quarantine requirements when they travel.