Coronavirus: China’s plans for ‘vaccine passport’ may be hampered by lack of data, diplomats say
- ‘To start the mutual recognition of vaccines, we need to really understand what the Chinese vaccine is,’ Israel’s ambassador to China says
- Data on the safety and efficacy of a vaccine is needed if it has not been approved by the European Medicines Agency, European diplomat says
Foreign diplomats praised it as “a good step forward” and said they appreciated the fact that China had initiated a discussion on the issue. However, data transparency could stand in the way of it achieving mutual recognition of vaccines before allowing international travel.
“To start the mutual understanding of vaccines, we need to really understand what the Chinese vaccine is,” said Irit Ben Abba, Israel’s ambassador to China.
“And China would probably like to understand the effects of the vaccine that we are using,” she said, adding that she would like to push for mutual recognition in a “few weeks”.
Israel has already agreed with Greece, Cyprus and the Seychelles to allow vaccinated citizens to visit, which Ben Abba said was partly because they had all used the same vaccine, developed by Pfizer-BioNTech. It would be possible to reach a deal with China, but the two sides would have to “share information on the vaccine and its effects”, she said.