EU confirms plans to digitize the yellow vaccination certificate
The EU Commission has confirmed plans to digitize the World Health Organization’s (WHO) yellow vaccination certificate. This is part of a global digital network for health certification from the WHO, which is based on the digital EU vaccination certificates from the corona pandemic, wrote the Commissioners for Justice, Didier Reynders, and Health, Stella Kyriakides. In a letter to the CDU MEP Peter Liese, they further explained that the desired solution would not only be limited to vaccinations against Covid-19 or other individual diseases. The “Rheinische Post” had previously reported.
In June, the Brussels authority and the World Health Organization announced a partnership in digital healthcare. The WHO is introducing the certification network “to strengthen global preparedness against increasing threats to health,” the commission said at the time. To do this, the WHO should adopt the system behind the EU certificates for vaccination or recovery, including its principles and technology. “So if a new health threat emerges, we will be able to respond more quickly,” the commissioners wrote.
The CDU politician Liese believes that digitizing the vaccination certificate is the right thing to do – everyone knows the situation of looking for the yellow booklet. “You always have it on your cell phone,” he told the German Press Agency. “An existing infrastructure is also a great advantage for potential other pandemics, so we are prepared for that.” When asked about possible data protection concerns, he said: “If our data protection standards became standard worldwide, that would be very welcome. The fact that the WHO is using the EU system means we have done it well.”