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Coronavirus pandemic
OpinionComment
Kamala Thiagarajan
Kamala Thiagarajan

The View | European Union’s Covid-19 travel pass discriminates against the developing world

  • Restricting the certificate to only those inoculated with four EU-approved jabs exacerbates the vaccine inequality already perpetuated by the West
  • The exclusion of India’s Covishield, manufactured using the AstraZeneca formula, is particularly mind-boggling

Reading Time:3 minutes
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European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen gestures during a press conference following a college meeting to introduce draft legislation on a common EU Covid-19 vaccination certificate at the EU headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, on March 17. Photo: Reuters
Kamala Thiagarajan
Ever since the coronavirus pandemic began, Asians have been vocal about hate that has rocked their communities worldwide. Much of that unreasonable prejudice has been in the form of targeted racist attacks. However, discrimination can take many forms.
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Often, it is far more insidious and subtle than blatant threats or outright physical or bodily harm, especially when it creeps into social discourse through official policy. This kind of hidden bias is exactly what we witnessed with the European Union’s Digital Covid Certificate, which came into effect on July 1.

International travel to the EU is currently suspended, but once travel resumes, these rules would likely apply to international travellers as well. The “green pass”, as it is more popularly known, will disproportionately affect people of colour, discriminating widely against Asians, Africans and much of the developing world.

At first glance, the policy seems innocuous and well-meant. It’s a digital proof of vaccination, allowing vaccinated travellers greater freedom of movement across the European Union, without the need for tiresome quarantines in every country.

However, to have this privilege, travellers must have been vaccinated with one of four EU-approved vaccines – Pfizer/BioNtech, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson and Vaxzevria, the latter developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University in Europe and the United Kingdom.

06:18

SCMP Explains: What’s in a Covid-19 vaccine?

SCMP Explains: What’s in a Covid-19 vaccine?
There are some notable omissions on this list – every vaccine manufactured outside the global West, for instance, despite their having received emergency approvals by the World Health Organization. The Russian-made Sputnik V has been under EU’s “rolling review” since March and the Chinese Sinovac since early May.
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