Greece is the first EU member state to start issuing vaccine certificates, Euronews reports. The Greeks have been issuing vaccine cards since Friday,
by Monday morning, 55,000 documents had been issued to people who had already received both doses of the vaccine.
The Greek government’s aim with this is to make it easier to travel between countries and thereby try to save this year’s tourist season. Of course, it will not be enough for the Greeks to introduce a card, so they are confident that other EU Member States will follow suit.
The Greek Prime Minister, Kiriákos Micotákis, presented our proposal at European level. Our proposal is that the card should not be a means of discrimination but a means of concessions
Kiriakos Pierrakakis, Minister for Digital Policy, told Euronews.
He added that it is proposed that testing be maintained along the borders, but that vaccinees should not be subject to restrictions. “There could be a kind of quick lane at the airports, the vaccinated could stand here and not where the others are,” he explained.
Euronews also pointed out that a number of practical issues still need to be resolved before the cards can be used. These include, for example, the need for each country to recognize vaccination certificates from other countries separately, and it is not yet clear exactly what information will need to be included on the certificates.
Since then, several countries have been interested in the card introduced by the Greeks. In addition, a decision was taken in Denmark in early February to introduce a vaccination passport, but the issuance of the documents was not seen as feasible until 2-3 months later.
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