Paris (AFP)

Health passports to boost international travel despite the persistent Covid-19 pandemic?

Some believe in it, in particular the European Union which presents its project on Wednesday and China which has already launched its version, while the airlines are also working on it.

- What are we talking about ?

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The passport or health certificate is a document that proves that its holder is, a priori, immune to Covid-19 and can therefore travel from one country to another without risking transmitting the virus across borders.

We often speak of a "vaccine" passport because it is the fact of having received a vaccine that most clearly points to this immunity.

But the various projects in progress, which generally take the form of a smartphone application, accept other criteria: for example a test guaranteeing the presence of antibodies in the traveler in the idea that he has already been reached. by illness in the past.

We must distinguish these passports from another concept, for example that described as a "health pass" by Emmanuel Macron, the French president.

The latter does not have the same purpose because it would only be valid in his country of origin.

It aims to reserve the entrance to certain businesses, such as restaurants, or certain events, such as concerts, to people who are immune.

- Who's working on it?

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Many countries are considering the implementation of a health passport and some have already launched it.

On Wednesday, the European Union presents its project, which it would like to launch this summer for travel within it.

This document, which will be equipped with a QR code, will certify that its holder has been vaccinated against Covid-19 - for the time being with one of the four vaccines authorized in the EU (those of Pfizer / BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca / Oxford, and Johnson & Johnson) -, has passed a negative PCR test or is immune to his infection.

But it is above all China which is in the lead.

in early March she announced a digital "health certificate" for Chinese people who would like to travel abroad.

In isolation, European countries have already taken the lead.

Greece and Cyprus have implemented passports of this type to Israel, a country particularly advanced in its vaccination, in agreement with the Jewish state: vaccinated citizens can travel between these countries without restrictions.

Other countries, such as Denmark and Sweden, plan to launch health passports soon.

But some European states, such as France and Germany, remain wary of the idea of ​​endorsing restrictions that are too severe.

- Is this a real passport?

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No, no project yet resembles the equivalent of a real passport, that is to say a document required to travel from one country to another.

For example, the Chinese health passport is only an option for nationals of this country, with the idea of ​​giving them more "conveniences".

But, in the absence of agreements for the moment with other countries, the interest remains unclear.

For its part, the EU is working on a certificate which "facilitates" free movement between its members but will not be an obligation to cross borders.

Ultimately, in all cases, it is less a new official document than an application intended to speed up health checks.

This is why the private sector has also seized the idea, first of all the big airlines which are seething to see an activity ravaged by travel restrictions resume.

The International Air Transport Association (Iata), which brings together most of the global sector, has been working for several months on a digital passport allowing passengers to prove their health status before boarding.

Isolated companies, like American Airlines, are already doing this.

- Can we go further?

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Systematize these health passports and make them more binding?

This poses legal problems which explain in particular the timidity of France.

They are twofold.

First, by making vaccination compulsory for certain trips, they would create inequality between citizens, while access to anti-Covid vaccines is still very limited in most countries.

Finally, privacy advocates are also concerned about the still imprecise way in which these applications access personal health data.

In France, for example, there is an official database of people who have already received an anti-Covid vaccine.

The French digital regulatory authority, the CNIL, accepts its existence, but it has warned: if it is to use it for a passport, it will re-examine the subject very closely.

© 2021 AFP