EU Vaccine Passport

[Jdsk]

Parliament gives its final green light to the EU Digital COVID Certificate":
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/ ... ertificate

NB change of name.

Jonathan

[Andrew-l]

Has anybody worked out what we will need to show if coming from the UK? Will the NHS app be acceptable?

[Jdsk]

TTBOMK no EU Member State has said that the NHS app will be accepted as evidence. I recommend checking the requirements for each country of interest.

The EU has said that it is seeking interoperability in general, but I haven't seen any reports on progress.

NB The NHS app might require live network access to show status. But you can download and print the information in advance.

Jonathan

[willem jongman]

For now coming from the UK will raise a red flag at most EU borders, and this may last for quite a while, given the growth of the delta variant.
Apparently there are some discussions about compatibility between the UK app and the EU app. The EU is keen to have as much compatibility with non-EU countries, and has technical discussions with some, but from what I read the UK is slow. It does require quite a bit, of course, because the system can only work if there is a reliable system to upload accurate status information from trusted sources, and uniform definitions. The EU system also has a great deal of privacy security so it cannot be linked with other personal data. I am not sure if the UK system can guarantee that. Of course, it should be doable, and it could have been arranged ages ago if the UK had wanted to.

[Jdsk]

The site has been updated with the progress by each Member State and the other participants:
https://ec.europa.eu/info/live-work-tra ... ificate_en

Jonathan

[willem jongman]

Thank you - the roll out is impressively efficient thus far (but the unexpected can always happen). The question for many in the EU will be if they can also travel when they have not yet had a second dose. From what I understand this will be possible without a test when travelling from one Green Country to another. There are not many of those yet, but the expectation is that this will change quickly given the rapid pace of vaccination.
What this means for my friends in the UK remains unclear to me. Will the UK system be connected in one way or another, or not? And perhaps more importantly, what will be the situation with the delta variant? Dutch authorities are beginning to insist on testing travellers returning from Spain because tourists there are catching it from UK tourists. Sadly, I think there is only one safe route for the EU, and that is to ban all travel from the UK to all of the EU. If countries like Spain continue to admit Brits who then infect Germans and Dutch we will have it coming.

[Psamathe]

...
What this means for my friends in the UK remains unclear to me. Will the UK system be connected in one way or another, or not? And perhaps more importantly, what will be the situation with the delta variant? Dutch authorities are beginning to insist on testing travellers returning from Spain because tourists there are catching it from UK tourists. Sadly, I think there is only one safe route for the EU, and that is to ban all travel from the UK to all of the EU. If countries like Spain continue to admit Brits who then infect Germans and Dutch we will have it coming.

The other day I had a look at the UK's NHS app Covid Passport and it is little more than an in-app web page with a 2D barcode. You can save the barcode (or get it e-mailed to you) but it has a limited validity period. So the app is nothing relevant, it's the barcode that is the "passport" so interoperability presumably depends on recognition of that 2D barcode.

As you say, in the short term the delta variant is a major factor but we also have Johnson meaning when the next variant emerges UK will be one of the 1st to suffer it spreading everywhere.

I'm still uncertain about how much vaccination will be "the answer" to the extent politicians are pushing it as out saviour e.g. Compare Chile and Israel who have comparable vaccination levels (similar to UK) yet a few days ago Santiago started a new lockdown as its ICU hit 98% of capacity. NPIs still play an important part and the UK seems desperate to discard eve those measures that don't really impact our lifestyle (e.g. masks). An interesting article (a couple of months old now https://www.theguardian.com/society/202 ... -countries.

Ian

[st599_uk]

...
What this means for my friends in the UK remains unclear to me. Will the UK system be connected in one way or another, or not? And perhaps more importantly, what will be the situation with the delta variant? Dutch authorities are beginning to insist on testing travellers returning from Spain because tourists there are catching it from UK tourists. Sadly, I think there is only one safe route for the EU, and that is to ban all travel from the UK to all of the EU. If countries like Spain continue to admit Brits who then infect Germans and Dutch we will have it coming.

The other day I had a look at the UK's NHS app Covid Passport and it is little more than an in-app web page with a 2D barcode. You can save the barcode (or get it e-mailed to you) but it has a limited validity period. So the app is nothing relevant, it's the barcode that is the "passport" so interoperability presumably depends on recognition of that 2D barcode.

As you say, in the short term the delta variant is a major factor but we also have Johnson meaning when the next variant emerges UK will be one of the 1st to suffer it spreading everywhere.

I'm still uncertain about how much vaccination will be "the answer" to the extent politicians are pushing it as out saviour e.g. Compare Chile and Israel who have comparable vaccination levels (similar to UK) yet a few days ago Santiago started a new lockdown as its ICU hit 98% of capacity. NPIs still play an important part and the UK seems desperate to discard eve those measures that don't really impact our lifestyle (e.g. masks). An interesting article (a couple of months old now https://www.theguardian.com/society/202 ... -countries.

Ian

The QR code contains the data about vaccination. For it to work with the EU or IATA systems, that data needs to be encrypted by the NHS using private-public key pair. The public key is securely entered in to the EU and IATA system and can then decrypt the QR code.

Will they? Who knows?

[Jdsk]

The Covid pass for Wales was launched today:
https://gov.wales/get-nhs-covid-pass-sh ... tus-travel

Jonathan

[willem jongman]

I just installed the Dutch covid certificate app on my Android phone and downloaded my vaccination status. Thus far it was easy and worked well. I now have to wait for 1 July for the system to be activated, and another few days for my second dose.

[willem jongman]

I just read in The Guardian that
1 there are discussions going on to make the UK app compatible with the EU app etc
2 EU politicians are converging on a requirement of full vaccination to allow travel to and in the EU, also by Brits. Germany remains concerned. I am happy for all my UK friends but I fear Angela Merkel is right to want more restrictions on travel from high risk regions.

[Jdsk]

"But authorities in the central Mediterranean archipelago revealed on Monday that they will only accept printed letters sent by the NHS as proof.
"That means tourists planning to use the NHS app to demonstrate their status face being turned away at UK airports or the border in Malta, even if they are fully vaccinated."
https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news ... 97369.html

Jonathan

[Psamathe]

If you don't want to be vaccinated or tested, then just become a member of the UEFA or FIFA which it seems gives you adequate protection against Covid and prevents you spreading it between countries.

Ian

[Astrobike]

I have decided I will not even try to travel by bike in Europe for at least 2 years by which time they UK and the EU will have sorted out some form of vacination passport that we can all use but don't bank on it.
In the mean time I shall tour at home so many beautiful parts of the U.K to explore , and avoid the bad blood that has been created by the uk government and the European Union in regard to Brexit .

[willem jongman]

Apart from the health situation that I expect to have improved quite a lot with continued vaccination I would not worry too much. The UK tabloids may be whipping up jingoistic Brexit frenzy, but most people in Europe are not particularly interested. The UK scored an own goal and that is it. There would not be any personal hostility.
Which is not to say that you could not do some wonderful tours in the UK. I would love to do some.