BFF-18 WHO looks at e-certificates for Covid-19 vaccination

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WHO looks at e-certificates for Covid-19 vaccination

COPENHAGEN, Dec 4, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – The World Health Organization said it
was considering introducing electronic vaccination certificates, as hopes for
an end to the pandemic were boosted after Britain became the first country to
approve use of a Covid-19 vaccine.

“We are looking very closely into the use of technology in this Covid-19
response and one of them is how can we work with members states towards
something called an e-vaccination certificate,” WHO Europe expert Siddhartha
Datta told an online press briefing Thursday.

Introducing such a certificate, which would make it possible to identify
and monitor people who have been vaccinated, has not been finalised and would
have to be drawn up in accordance with national laws, Datta said.

It would not be an immunity passport, which is supposed to assure that its
carrier is protected against the disease because they have been infected and
recovered.

“We do not recommend immunity passports,” said Catherine Smallwood, the
WHO’s senior emergency officer for Europe.

Tech-savvy Estonia earlier this year began testing an app that could serve
as a kind of digital “immunity passport”, allowing users with antibodies to
show employers and others their reduced risk of spreading the coronavirus.

Britain on Wednesday became the first country to approve the Pfizer-
BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine, and the European Medicines Agency is due to
announce its decision on December 29 at the latest.

The WHO’s Europe zone, which covers 53 countries including Russia, has
recorded more than 19.3 million infections and more than 433,000 deaths since
the start of the pandemic, according its data table, with 1.5 million cases
recorded in the past seven days.

“Whilst we are seeing a slight decrease in the number of cases in western
Europe, this does not mean the entire WHO European region faces an
improvement in the epidemiological situation,” said WHO Europe regional
director Hans Kluge.

“The resurgence is moving eastward with the hardest-hit countries now in
central and southern Europe,” he said, calling on governments not to lower
their guard in the fight against the pandemic.

In the event of a fall in cases, “consider scaling-up the public health
infrastructure and preparing for the next surge,” he said.

BSS/AFP/GMR/1122 hrs