
Covid passport
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Published: 28.02.2021.
How to return to a normal life as soon as possible and safely is a question that each of us has asked ourselves countless times. After a long winter and a lock down in many states, global travelers have awakened a desire to travel.
At the recent extraordinary EU summit, the focus was on how to speed up vaccination and how to return to normal life. The heads of state and government agreed to introduce the Covid passport in the near future.
It will be a unique health passport, ie a pass, which would allow vaccinated people certain freedoms such as travel or participation in conferences and cultural events, a European passport that will mean a vaccination certificate and should be available in the next three months. A green covid passport should be in the form of a digital health document. Such a document provides numerous benefits to anyone who has recovered or been vaccinated against covid-19. The national Covid passport should be inserted into the joint EU-health passport and would last for three months.
The countries that intend to introduce Covid passports within the European Union are modeled on Israel, which has introduced a digital certificate.
The action was initiated by the Mediterranean countries, the first Greece, and the action is joined by Portugal, Spain, Italy, Cyprus, Malta, ie tourist countries. In addition, the introduction of Covid passports is supported by Bulgaria, Romania, the Baltic countries, Slovakia, Poland, and Slovenia and Romania address this through a bilateral agreement. Denmark has already introduced the Covid pass, and Austria is the biggest proponent of the Covid passport. Germany is the most cautious, and France, Belgium, and the Netherlands have also refrained because they fear that this would give false security to those who have it, given that it is not yet known how long immunity lasts, how new strains react to vaccines and can whether people who have been vaccinated spread the infection. The issue of personal freedoms and fundamental rights is also a problem.
Croatia here follows the logic of tourist countries and stands by the side of countries that require the introduction of Covid passports, although this has not been officially announced,it is even ready to introduce them even if no EU agreement is reached.
The conclusion is that something needs to be done to save the tourist season. States want tourism and more freedom for vaccinated people. And that means that the lucky ones who get vaccinated will be able to travel freely and go on vacations to warmer regions, while those who fail will have significantly greater problems when crossing state borders.
On the other hand, all tourist destinations went through a kind of map around the opening of borders due to the activation of tourism last summer, and this year everyone will be much more prepared and smarter.
And how everything will work and whether the EU plans to make a Covid passport will come true remains to be seen. The tourist season is just around the corner and we all hope it will be more successful, longer and safer than the last one.