All You Need to Know About Vaccine Passports

In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, all countries are taking strict measures to minimize the spread and keep their residents safe. Vaccinations have been rolled out by several medical institutions and almost all countries from every corner of the world are trying to get all the residents and citizens vaccinated as quickly as possible. The new guidelines to travel abroad and within the country require the concerned person to be vaccinated in full. This is where the vaccine passport comes into the picture. Vaccine passport, now adopted by many countries including the UAE, has become the ultimate tool to travel abroad and board flights. Let’s know about it in a little more detail.

What is Vaccine Passport?

The vaccine passport is a term that is used to refer to a bunch of digital platforms containing the vaccination details of a person. These platforms are available in the form of an application for now and every country has a unique one for its residents and citizens. This application can be used to verify that you have been vaccinated with all the required dosages of the concerned vaccine, aren’t infected with coronavirus, and are fit to travel.

How Do these Vaccine Passports Work?

The basic algorithm used in most applications for national and international vaccine passports generates a QR code that can be scanned. This QR will generate all the information regarding your Covid-19 vaccination status, infection status (if you were infected), and recovery status as well. The vaccine passport also allows the authorities to see the kind of vaccine you have had administered, its efficacy, and other related details. Venues and places that require Covid-19 recovery status or have mandatory vaccination requirements can be accessed using the vaccine passport applications. This can include airports, events, restaurants, etc. For now, the vaccine passport is being used by airlines, government authorities, and offices to allow admission for the vaccinated people or recovered patients who have tested negative now.

What can the Vaccine Passport be Used for?

Countries around the world have implemented vaccination certificates or cards as mandatory to enter public spaces such as restaurants, malls, etc. The emirate of Abu Dhabi has recently made it mandatory to carry your vaccination certificate if you require admittance in a government office or a public space. The same policy has been adopted by many other governments as well. After the emergence of the EU international vaccine passport covering all the Schengen countries and a few others like Iceland, the USA, Japan, India, Singapore, Pakistan, and Thailand have also started to make changes in the vaccine passport requirement policies. Nevertheless, presenting a vaccination certificate or negative Covid-19 report to travel abroad is mandatory now. Many countries have made vaccines mandatory for travel as well.

Vaccine Passport in the UAE – Al Hosn

Al Hosn application in the form of a vaccine passport being used in the UAE. The application has a great under interface with color-coded representation for vaccination status representations. A vaccination card can also be downloaded from this application. The final vaccination card reflecting vaccination completion status can be downloaded after 28 days of final dose administration. UAE residents and citizens may now require to carry their vaccination cards to attend events, visit restaurants, cinema halls, shopping malls, or any other public place. The vaccination cards are necessary to access government offices and spaces as well.

The Necessity for Digital Vaccine Passports

Vaccination certificates or vaccine passports have been around the world since the vaccination drive started initially. However, international vaccine passports have been digitized in most countries. The reason for this exercise is the common case of fraudulent vaccine certificates. In the case of a physical vaccine passport, a lot of cases have been reported and observed where people are offering to sell fake vaccination certificates over the internet and via other modes. This activity is not only illegal but poses a huge threat of infection. Covid-19 being one of the most easily infecting diseases to exist now, governments from around the world are ensuring the authenticity of the vaccine passports through QR code scanning and online records.

Conclusion

A vaccine passport is a revolutionary step to control the infection rate of the Covid-19 pandemic. The digitization of the vaccination certificates has not only made it easy to authenticate the certificates but also makes it easy for the public to keep a track of their record. You can find all the related information in a single place by making little to no effort. Vaccine passports are going to become a mandatory tool to access most places in the near future given its current acceptance status. So now, you not only have to buy cheap travel insurance online to travel abroad now but must also be fully vaccinated.