On Wednesday 27 January, the EU eHealth network, which is made up of the EU Member States, set out the basic elements for interoperable vaccination certificates. In its press release, the European Commission states: “The guidelines mainly target the Covid-19 vaccination, but could be used in the future as a basis for proving vaccination status”.
Member States had been discussing the idea of an interoperable vaccination certificate to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic for several months. However, the Greek Prime Minister took a firm stance and suggested that the vaccination certificate should be used as a passport during the health crisis in order to allow travel restrictions to be lifted. On 21 January, EU leaders agreed to proceed in stages, postponing the tougher political discussion on the passport to a later date (see EUROPE 12641/1).
The e-Health Network guidelines state that the certificate is a document that confirms that an individual has been vaccinated. The guidelines identify the essential information that needs to be included in the certificate and the means of ensuring the veracity of the document (the UVCI). They also specify that this certificate must be issued by trusted entities.
The eHealth network also considers situations where an individual only receives a partial course of the vaccination. In this instance, a separate certificate will be issued. “Support for such certificates and other Covid-19 related proofs (tests etc.) will be explored later by the eHealth Network as part of the further work on vaccination certificates and the toolbox supporting them”, the guidelines state.
The guidelines can be found at: https://bit.ly/3cgrIFy (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)