Digital vaccination certificates enabling people to travel in Europe despite the coronavirus pandemic will likely be available before summer, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said after a virtual EU summit, as was reported by Reuters.
“Everyone agreed that we need a digital vaccination certificate,” Merkel said at a press conference on Thursday, adding that the EU Commission would need around three months to create the technical basis for such documents.
Southern European countries were the main lobbyists for the introduction of vaccination passports. In particular, Spain believes that lifting the travel restrictions for those who was vaccinated will contribute to the summer tourist season in the country. Currently, the border crossing within the EU is only possible with the negative coronavirus test, as more and more countries are resuming border control due to a difficult situation with COVID-19.
The EU member-states have not yet agreed whether the digital vaccination certificate would be enough for travelling.
EU leaders have also agreed during the summit on the need to urgently step up efforts to accelerate the provision of vaccines. They also highlighted the need to enhance surveillance and detection capacity to identify variants as early as possible so as to control their spread.
“The epidemiological situation remains serious, and the new variants pose additional challenges. We must therefore uphold tight restrictions while stepping up efforts to accelerate the provision of vaccines,” the statement of the members of the European Union reads.