Tag: vaccine passport

SA’s Department of Tourism Aims to Join Vaccine Passport System

Image by Quicknews

The Department of Tourism says that it wants to introduce a vaccine passport for South Africa, but a number of international and legislative obstacles have to be overcome.

A lack of standardisation around vaccine passports worldwide is a key issue, said tourism director-general Nkhumeleni Victor Tharage in a briefing to Parliament on 17 August.

“Even in some jurisdictions that have opted to apply this (passport), there isn’t yet a sense of uniformity. When we don’t have a single, standardised specimen, it is a little bit difficult to say which one is which.

“If South Africa introduces (a passport), and there is access to information from the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) that confirms that a person has been vaccinated, the question is if that person arrives Lagos (Nigeria), what resources will they use to verify this information that is stored on a database in South Africa?”

South Africa has the same problem when it comes to verification of incoming tourists, Tharage said. The government was also cautious about introducing a vaccine passport system that is discriminatory against certain groups of people, he noted.

“When we reopen, and when everyone is starting to travel, it should not be discriminatory. And that principle has been reiterated time and time again.”

The vaccine passport could be a requirement for events, and Tharage said he was confident that this is something that the government could introduce with ease on short notice.

“At the end of the day, it’s about being able to get the necessary confidence from consumers, tourists and trade. If we don’t do that, then there will be a negative impact on our recovery.”

However, Department of Health spokesperson Foster Mohale affirmed that South Africa has no immediate plans to require proof of vaccination for any purpose.

Open for tourism
Transport minister Fikile Mbalula has said that his department is working with businesses to ensure that South Africa successfully reopens for international travel. Presenting his departmental budget speech at the end of May, Mbalula said that South Africa must ensure that it joins the increasing number of countries which accept the International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) mobile travel pass.

The travel pass is a mobile app that helps travellers store and manage their verified certifications for COVID tests or vaccines, and is more secure and efficient than current paper processes, IATA said. This is important given the potentially enormous scale of testing or vaccine verifications that the group must securely manage. IATA said it is looking to introduce further changes, such as QR code scanning by immigration officials.

Source: BusinessTech

South Africa to Sign On to Digital ‘Vaccine Passport’

Photo by Blake Guidry on Unsplash

Transport minister Fikile Mbalula said that South Africa will seek to join a digital ‘vaccine passport’ scheme being tested by a number of airlines.

Presenting his departmental budget speech on Friday, Mbalula said that South Africa must ensure that it joins the growing number of countries that accepts the International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) mobile travel pass for COVID vaccination.

This particular initiative was tested successfully by Singapore Airlines, and more than 20 carriers, the minister said.

“In recent months, Singapore has announced that it will accept visitors who use a mobile travel passes containing digital certificates for Covid-19 tests and vaccines,” Mbalula said.

“This makes Singapore one of the first countries to adopt this initiative. Singapore will accept the IATA mobile travel pass for pre-departure checks, where travellers can get clearance to fly to and enter Singapore by showing a smartphone application containing their data from accredited laboratories.”

The IATA’s app allows travellers to store digital information from certified labs. It will be available for download later this month. IATA aims to bring in additional changes such as QR code scanning by immigration officers.

Vaccine passports have been the subjects of debates over equitability, access and potential for abuse. However, vaccine passports are not only permissible under international health regulations, they already exist. The World Health Organization endorses certificates confirming vaccination against yellow fever for entry into certain countries. They also incentivise vaccination, a public good.

Currently, South Africa has 62 ‘major restrictions’ from other countries in place, with suspended travel, stringent requirements for entry or outright bans. Meanwhile there are 92 moderate restrictions in place on South Africa, where travel is possible subject to measures such as COVID tests on arrival.

Source: BusinessTech