E.U. unveils vaccine passport plan to enable summer travel
BERLIN — The European Union on Wednesday launched a closely watched effort to create a joint vaccination passport for its more than 440 million citizens and residents, embarking on a tightrope walk between economic pressures, discrimination fears and concerns over Europe's slow vaccination progress.
Supporters hope the “digital green certificates” will be ready by June, which could help to salvage the European summer tourism season and even serve as a model that could be extended to the United States and other countries. But E.U. countries lag far behind the United States in vaccinations, which has raised concerns that the passport plan could be launched prematurely.
The passes are expected to be digital or paper documents for travelers to prove that they have been vaccinated, that they recovered from the virus or recently tested negative for it. In many cases, this could free travelers from quarantine obligations.
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But the plans unveiled Wednesday leave many of the most controversial points up to member states, including the question for which activities the passes would become mandatory....
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But Europe’s two most populous countries — France and Germany — have approached the plans with more caution, which could still derail them as they require the approval of the European Parliament and of member states...
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