“The key questions are: Will [the vaccine] will it be available and accepted as part of the new normal of traveling around the world? ”Said Mark Cameron, an immunologist at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. “I do not think it is difficult to imagine. If, hypothetically, France became a country that requires you to have vaccination tests to get on a plane, I think it’s a step that people would be willing to take. “
Last fall, shortly after news that trials for the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines were successful, Qantas announced that vaccines would finally be needed to travel. Alan Joyce, CEO of the Australian airline, said the measure would be “a necessity” when vaccines are widely available.
“I think this will be a common thing to talk to my colleagues from other airlines around the world,” he told the Australian Nine Network last November. The interview immediately made international news. “We will ask people to get vaccinated before they can get on the plane… For international visitors leaving and people leaving the country, we believe it is a necessity.”
South Korea’s largest airline takes a similar, albeit slightly more conservative, stance on vaccines. Jill Chung, a spokeswoman for Korean Air, said there is a real possibility that airlines will require passenger vaccination. But he said governments are likely to require vaccines as a condition of raising quarantine requirements for newcomers.
U.S.-based carriers have not been so quick on their policies and many experts think a vaccination test is unlikely to be needed for U.S. residents. Earlier this month, executives from several U.S. airlines strongly opposed the CDC requiring coronavirus testing to board domestic flights. Since then, the CDC has put the idea aside.
Even the idea of requiring a vaccine for airline employees has had mixed reactions. United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby asked other airlines to join him in requiring airline employees to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, but both Delta Air Lines and Alaska Airlines said that, all and that they will encourage employees to get vaccinated, they will not demand it. However, these employees may not have a choice if they work on international flights to countries that require a vaccine.
Dr. Anthony Fauci has reflected on the idea of vaccine passports, telling Newsweek that he believes it is “quite possible.”
“Everything will be on the table to debate,” Fauci said.
The concept of requiring vaccines to visit specific countries is not new. Several African countries require visitors to be vaccinated against yellow fever. Once vaccinated, they are given what is commonly known as a yellow card, which allows entry.
Unfortunately, the COVID-19 vaccination test will not be as simple as a card. Currently, four major players claim to have the answer to the riddle and hope that their digital health passports will become the international standard. IBM, Clear, the International Air Transport Association and the Commons Project Foundation are in various stages of testing or deploying their digital passport. Although all applications will have multiple functions, the common denominator allows licensed laboratories and testing centers to securely share information about testing and vaccines, allowing travelers to demonstrate proof of vaccination.
“We’re working on that before COVID arrives,” said IATA spokesman Perry Flint. The organization’s Travel Pass app was released this week. “Genesis goes back to trying to modernize processes. Go to an airport when you travel internationally and get your passport three, four, five times. What if you could take this paper passport and basically get it on your mobile device, your iPhone, or your Android, whatever. And you would only prove that, once, it would be related to you biometrically and basically, all systems would recognize you. “
Since the onset of the pandemic, health has reached the forefront of the IATA application, with the focus on allowing it to link with an authorized lab to share a passenger’s negative COVID-19 test or a vaccination record. Emirates has announced that it will use the IATA Travel Pass application.
The global airline industry, which faces losses of $ 157 billion over the next year due to the historic collapse in demand, believes a digital health passage to certify that passengers do not have COVID is the key to resuming international travel.
So far, the most popular option among airlines is CommonPass, which is currently offered on certain flights from United Airlines, Lufthansa, Virgin Atlantic, Swiss International Air Lines and JetBlue. It uses a digital certificate downloaded to a mobile phone to show that a passenger has tested negative for COVID-19. Users can offer the certificate as proof of a negative test if the country requires it.
But not everyone is convinced that a standardized electronic vaccine passport will be so easy to get out in such a short period of time.
“In some countries where you’ve nationalized medicine, you can easily track tests and vaccines,” said Ida Bergstrom, a Washington DC doctor who specializes in vaccination, vaccination and travel medicine. “But for the United States, that is not the case. What will be synchronized with the airlines or what will be synchronized with these governments, and how will it develop? I can see an ongoing disaster. They have been talking about COVID passports since day one and I am not sure of their practicality ”.
There are other issues at stake. A vaccination passport would restrict people from economically disadvantaged countries who do not have access to a vaccine. Making the process fully digital can also be difficult for travelers who do not use mobile devices.
“It will take a significant amount of time to vaccinate the world’s population, particularly those from less advanced countries or different age groups, so we should not discriminate against those who wish to travel but who have not been vaccinated,” Gloria said. Guevara, President and CEO of the World Travel and Tourism Council.
Health officials also continue to stress that even if a person has been vaccinated, it does not mean they are safe from the spread of the virus.
“We don’t know what kind of immunity the vaccine actually confers,” Bergstrom said. “Since I was vaccinated, it is very unlikely that I will have a serious illness, but my lifestyle has not changed much because my husband and children are not yet vaccinated. So if I run away to, let’s say Cancun, I can come back with COVID. While I wouldn’t necessarily take a big risk, I could give it to my family and then something could happen to them. “
Whether or not airlines and cruises require a COVID passport may not matter if countries begin to require it. Both Australia and New Zealand have been quick to block and stop international arrivals when coronavirus cases appear. It is not difficult to imagine those countries that need a COVID passport. Israel is issuing its vaccinated residents “green passports,” which allow them to sponsor gyms, hotels and sporting events. It will also allow them to travel internationally when the country resumes flights. It looks like incoming travelers will face the same rules.
Despite all the uncertainty surrounding health passports, a besieged travel industry trusts its hopes in the vaccine and hopes that, along with a continuous multilayered approach to mask use and social distancing, it can help it recover. if. Expect to see more cruise companies, an industry that was flattened by the pandemic, requiring vaccination of passengers in order to be able to sail.
After a year of very limited travel, John Lovell, president of the Travel Leaders Group, says the words few of us want to hear again with dreams of exploring the world.
“I see a lot of airlines, cruise lines and even hotels requiring vaccinations by the end of the fourth quarter of this year… And beyond.”
Christopher Muther can be contacted at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @Chris_Muther.