EU plan for digital green certificates does not exclude Chinese vaccines
- Member nations waiving restrictions would have to accept all vaccines authorised by the European Medicines Agency, but the proposal leaves the door open for other products
- Vaccine roll-out in EU has so far been dominated by Pfizer and BioNTech, which account for over two-thirds of the nearly 65 million doses distributed
The proposal, unveiled on Wednesday, comes as countries around the world are grappling with how vaccines can be used to ease travel restrictions, and questions arise over whether governments should recognise vaccines that have not been approved within their borders.
China this week relaxed its visa rules for some foreign workers looking to enter the country, but only if they had received a Chinese vaccine.
The EU proposal could allow carriers of a “digital green certificate” to move freely between member countries and would show vaccination as well as proof of negative tests or prior infection.
Some borders within the EU were tightened to control disease spread. Under the proposed rules, countries can decide which public health restrictions would be waived for travellers.
Any of the bloc’s 27 countries waiving restrictions under the proposed scheme would have to accept vaccination certificates for all shots authorised by the European Medicines Agency (EMA), but the proposal leaves the door open to recognise other products as well.
“Member states may decide to extend this also to EU travellers that received another vaccine,” according to a summary of the plan.