Vaccine passport: WHO emergency committee not in favor

AFP

The WHO emergency committee on COVID indicated on Monday that it was not in favor of a mandatory vaccine passport for international travelers, even if the practice seems to be attractive.

The seventh meeting of the World Health Organization's (WHO) emergency committee on COVID-19 was held on April 15, but its conclusions were not published until Monday.

In a statement, the experts, tasked with guiding the WHO chief, recommend "not requiring proof of vaccination as a condition of entry" for international travelers "given the limited (though growing) evidence regarding the performance of vaccines on reducing transmission and given the persistent inequity in global vaccine distribution."

"State parties are strongly encouraged to recognize that requiring proof of vaccination may exacerbate inequalities and promote differential freedom of movement," they write. 

This call comes as many countries are considering the introduction of a health passport for travel, but also for other activities, including sports, even though this idea has raised strong criticism and concerns about possible discrimination and the protection of private data.

The European Union, in particular, has presented its project on this subject, China has already launched its version, while the airlines are also working on it. In the United States, the White House stated in early April that it would not impose a health passport, while stressing that the private sector was free to move towards this idea.

At their meeting, the WHO emergency committee experts addressed other issues, including a request that WHO "accelerate the evaluation of COVID-19 vaccine candidates.

The WHO has so far only licensed Pfizer-BioNTech's vaccine, AstraZeneca-Oxford's vaccine manufactured in India and South Korea, and Johnson and Johnson's vaccine.

The pandemic has killed more than 3 million people worldwide, and its origin remains unknown, although transmission of the virus to humans via an animal infected with a bat is the preferred hypothesis of international experts commissioned by the WHO.

The WHO emergency committee calls on the organization to rapidly pursue research on the origin of the virus, and asks that the regulation of markets selling animals be strengthened. They also ask that the sale and import of wild animals that present a high risk of transmission to humans of new pathogens be discouraged.

Source: AFP