The planned digital corona vaccination pass in Germany is due to start this Thursday.
The application called "CovPass" will be rolled out step by step and will be available in the app stores, said a spokesman for the Federal Ministry of Health in Berlin on Wednesday.
The digital proof can also be displayed in the official corona warning app of the federal government.
The creators of the tracing app published the current version 2.3.2 in the Apple and Google app stores on Wednesday night. The intended digital proof should be a voluntary addition to the yellow vaccination booklet that can be used again. The EU countries and the EU Parliament recently agreed on details of a Europe-wide certificate with which vaccinations, tests and survived Covid-19 diseases can be proven. This should also make traveling easier. In the future, digital evidence should be created directly in practices or vaccination centers and then used via smartphone. Subsequent exhibitions should also be possible - for example at doctors and pharmacies.
In North Rhine-Westphalia only some of the pharmacies will be able to offer this service from Monday. “At the start on Monday there won't be that many pharmacies because the pharmacies still have to create technical, personnel and, in some cases, spatial requirements. But some of them will definitely be there, ”said the chairman of the North Rhine Pharmacists' Association, Thomas Preis, of the dpa. The association estimates the need for the digital vaccination certificate at around 1,000 potential certificates per pharmacy.
According to the previous additional offers, for example for corona rapid tests and flu vaccinations, Preis assumes that after a step-by-step expansion, every fourth pharmacy in the Rhineland will offer the service of the digital corona vaccination pass. The possibility of a reservation or an appointment booking via the Internet could be useful in view of the expected demand. “Not every pharmacy will be able to participate. The main task of pharmacies is to supply medicines, ”he explained.