INTERNATIONAL VACCINE PASSPORT HOW TO

A focus of the Biden administration’s combating Covid-19 and preparing for the next pandemic: Equity.

INTERNATIONAL VACCINE PASSPORT HOW TO

has been involved in backdoor discussions with the WHO on the treaty and how to strengthen the organization. It’s Pace’s first trip to this city as assistant secretary.īackdoor talks: The U.S. PANDEMIC TREATY TALKS UNDERWAY - GENEVA – Loyce Pace, the assistant secretary for global affairs at the Department of Health and Human Services, is in Geneva meeting with WHO and other global health leaders about a potential treaty to help lay the framework for an international response to the next pandemic, POLITICO’s Erin Banco writes. Thanks to editors Eli Reyes and Barbara Van Tine. Do you speak multiple languages? Use one to send us a tip - email me at. WELCOME BACK TO GLOBAL PULSE, where we’re jealous of this journalist who can report in six languages. The CDC- and HHS-stamped Covid-19 paper vaccination cards are relatively easy to forge, which has raised concerns about fraud. doesn’t have a national inoculation database. Complicating the situation is that the U.S. database: The Biden administration has said it wouldn’t issue digital credentials and hasn’t rolled out standards for vaccine credentials it said it would issue. Many red-leaning states have opposed the technology, but that hesitancy appears to be softening as several of those states have adopted the technology. has no official standard despite SMART Health Cards’ dominance.Īdvocates have touted the vaccine credentials, commonly known as passports, as a way to facilitate travel and reopening efforts. The White House and the Departments of State and HHS didn’t respond to requests for comment.īackground: The move would be the most significant coordinated international push to enable interoperable credentials among nations and regions.Įxisting standards include a digital Covid certificate for European Union member nations. The group will participate in the initiative. The VCI is behind SMART Health Cards, which have become the de facto standard for digital vaccine credentials in the U.S., with dozens of states developing or adopting the technology. The WHO would say only that news on the topic should be coming “soon.” “It’s piecemeal, not coordinated and done nation to nation,” Anderson said. Many countries and regions have different standards for proof of inoculation, creating confusion for travelers and officials.

Why it matters: The effort would aid international travel by allowing proof of vaccination to be more easily shared and verified, Anderson said.

The WHO is bringing together the groups to develop a “trust framework” that would allow countries to verify whether vaccine credentials are legitimate, said Brian Anderson, chief digital health physician at MITRE and a co-founder of the VCI. Countries and regions currently have a number of different digital vaccine credential standards, which can make international travel difficult.īUILDING A ‘TRUST FRAMEWORK’ - The World Health Organization will convene member states and leaders of Covid-19 immunization credential technology groups to recognize different vaccine certificates across nations and regions, a top Vaccination Credential Initiative official told POLITICO’s Ben Leonard.

International vaccine passport