Overseas Travel in Corona Era, Will’Vaccine Passport’ Be a Relief Pitch? [임주형의 테크토크]

‘Vaccine passport’ issuing digital certificates to corona 19 vaccinationists
Vaccination can be verified by simply connecting to a smartphone app.
IBM, Commons Project and other international organizations
Introducing movements in countries such as EU, Israel and Iceland
Concerns about privacy and discrimination against unvaccinated people

[아시아경제 임주형 기자] Vaccination against Corona 19 is scheduled to begin this month. The first vaccination is a vulnerable group with a high risk of infection, such as the elderly medical staff, but from the third quarter, general adults will also be able to receive vaccination.

As such, there is an expectation that free overseas travel will be possible from at least the second half of this year. In particular, some Western countries, which started vaccination earlier than Korea, are also calling for the creation of a so-called’vaccine passport’.

The vaccine passport is a concept that provides a special certification so that only those who have been vaccinated with the Corona 19 vaccine can travel abroad freely. For example, there is a system that allows you to check the vaccination status with a smartphone application (app).

International organizations with tech companies from various countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom, are already challenging to establish a vaccine passport. Representative examples include the’Corona 19 Qualification Initiative’, which more than 100 organizations around the world collaborate with, the US tech company IBM, and the’Commons Project’, an international vaccine passport development project.

The goals of these projects are all the same. It is possible to prove vaccination just by accessing a simple app.

In the past, when an infectious disease pandemic, access to some at-risk countries required removal of paper vaccination certificates.

However, Corona 19 is an unprecedented infectious disease that has exceeded 100 million confirmed cases worldwide as of the 27th of last month. And to end the pandemic, billions of people will need to get vaccinated in the future.

It takes a lot of labor and time to be screened at the airport by removing vaccination certificates individually, and it can cause various problems such as counterfeit certificates. That is why building a digitized anti-virus passport app has emerged as an alternative.

Vaccine passports are very important in vitalizing the aviation and tourism business, which is hit hard by the pandemic.

Currently, cross-border movement by aircraft is very restrictive. In cases where the level of infection is severe or the country where the new coronavirus strain has appeared, the entry ban may be imposed at all, and even in the case of travel between countries, it is necessary to test negative for Corona 19 specimens, self-isolation for 10 to 14 days, etc. Is the most.

Because of this, demand for overseas travelers has plummeted, and airlines and airplane manufacturers are suffering a lot. However, once vaccination proceeds and vaccination passports begin to be issued, there is a possibility that overseas travel will recover significantly, if not at the past level.

On the other hand, there are many voices warning about side effects from the introduction of a vaccine passport. In particular, in the vaccine passport system, it is essential that the IT system finds and authenticates the individual’s medical records, and there is concern that privacy may be violated.

‘Big Brother Watch’, an international civic group, said in an interview with the British media’Guardian’ on the 15th of last month, “Vaccine passports can be the basis of a repressive digital ID system.” “The government can easily handle labor, travel, and medical records. He pointed out that there is a danger of undermining a liberal democratic society by being able to look into it.”

There are also concerns that the existence of a vaccine passport can divide the people into’first class citizens’ who can travel abroad freely and’second class citizens’ who do not.

Gloria Guevara, CEO of the World Travel and Tourism Association, said in an interview with a media on the 11th, “Vaccine passports can be a discriminatory policy.” “You should not create a society that requires vaccination when looking for a job or going on a trip. “He emphasized.

Controversy over the net function and side effects of a vaccine passport continues, but some countries are already preparing to introduce a vaccine passport. Iceland, a small country in Northern Europe, began issuing a’corona vaccination certificate’ on the 21st of last month.

This certificate will be issued to 4,800 people who have been vaccinated, and if they have it, they will be exempt from corona quarantine measures when traveling from Iceland to other countries. To this end, the Icelandic government is discussing measures to exempt border quarantine with the European Union (EU), Norway and Switzerland.

The EU Commission also announced on January 19 that it will “establish standards related to vaccine passports by the end of this month,” and Israel also announced plans to issue vaccination certificates in the name of’green passport’ from February.

Meanwhile, although it is not a vaccine passport in Korea, the issuance of a vaccination certificate is being considered. Earlier, on the 13th of last month, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) ordered a research service for’Preparation of National Vaccination Implementation Plan for Corona 19 Vaccine’ and initiated a specific system study for issuing a vaccine vaccination certificate.

Lee Seon-gyu, head of the Vaccination Management Division of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, explained at the Corona 19 briefing on the day that “Corona 19 vaccine has different aspects from general vaccination, so we are trying to establish a separate system.”

However, he said, “It is a system that is not linked to a vaccine passport, but a system that is generally provided,” he said, “but the government should consider using it (as a vaccine passport).”

Reporter Lim Joo-hyung [email protected]