US-EU’vaccination passport’ promotion, will Korea become a barrier to late vaccination?

As the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Union (EU) begin vaccination against Corona 19, the development of a’vaccine passport’ is accelerating. Vaccine passports are used as proof that you have been vaccinated when crossing borders or participating in large international events.

The problem is that there is a gap between countries in the size of vaccine acquisition and the speed of vaccination, so the’vaccine divide’ may deepen. Nationals of countries who get the vaccine quickly are given a’free pass’, but it can be a barrier to countries where vaccination is late.

According to CNN on the 27th (local time), the Commons Project and the World Economic Forum (WEF), a non-profit organization in Geneva, Switzerland, started developing a’digital certificate’ app that proves vaccination when going to public places or crossing borders. It is a plan that vaccinationists will be certified by medical institutions and uploaded the corona 19 test vaccination record to the’Common Pass’ app, and then use it as a means of proof.

According to this plan, called the “Common Trust Network,” the app will issue medical certificates and passes that can be presented to health authorities in the form of QR codes. When you enter the itinerary, a list of necessary documents is also displayed. It can be used when crossing the border and entering a movie theater, concert hall, or stadium. Major airlines such as Cathay Pacific, Lufthansa, United Airlines, Virgin Atlantic, Swiss Airlines, JetBlue, and hundreds of medical corporations will participate in the vaccine passport development.

Multinational IT companies are also developing their own apps. According to CNN, IBM has developed an app called “Digital Health Pass,” which allows you to set up fever tests, Corona 19 tests, and vaccination records. It can be used for admission to conference halls, concert halls, and stadiums. The Linux Foundation Public Health, a non-profit organization in the United States, has also started developing a standard form for digital vaccine certificates with Common Pass and IBM.

According to Bloomberg News, the number of people vaccinated worldwide is estimated at 4.2 million as of the 27th. In the United States, more than 2 million people were vaccinated, and in the United Kingdom more than 620,000 people received the Pfizer vaccine. Large-scale vaccinations began on the 27th in the EU. If vaccination is done as scheduled, Western and Arab wealthy countries can quickly reach the level of’collective immunity’, and the corresponding citizens can get a vaccination passport for economic activities. However, nationals of countries with insufficient vaccine availability or late introduction are limited in their activities. Vaccination passports can be a barrier to Korea, where vaccinations begin as early as next February to March.

The Daily Mail and others reported on the 27th that the organizers are considering a plan to allow only Hollywood actors who received the corona vaccine to attend the awards ceremony at the Academy Awards held in the United States on April 25 next year. Restricting attendees to vaccinations can make it difficult for young stars to attend. Considering the vaccination priority and vaccination rate, it can be difficult for young actors to get the vaccine until April 25, when the awards ceremony takes place.

Jae-wook Choi, a preventive medicine professor at Korea University’s medical school, said, “Someday we will get the vaccine, but whether it is 6 months or longer, there will be no help for a vaccine gap.” Kim Woo-joo, a professor of infectious medicine at Korea University, said, “By the time the Tokyo Olympics in July next year, the gap between countries that have been close to group immunity and countries that still need to distance themselves may become clear.”

Reporters Lim Sun-young and Jung Eun-hye [email protected]