Britons who have been vaccinated against Covid could get an ‘immunity passport’ on the NHS app, the boss of Test and Trace has said.
Baroness Dido Harding told NHS bosses that her team was looking at updating the contact tracing app to also display vaccination status.
Immunity passports have been touted as a way to get swathes of society back to normal life, and allow millions to evade restrictions. This is because they would indicate someone is protected against the virus, and is able to fight it off without getting severely ill or dying.
Travel companies and airlines have signalled their support for the scheme, saying it could help to kick-start international travel.
But ministers are yet to give their blessing to any such scheme, which was initially suggested during the first wave of the pandemic.
Britons could soon receive ‘immunity passports’ on their NHS Covid-19 app to prove they have been vaccinated against the virus. (stock)
Baroness Harding told an event organised by the Health Service Journal last week that her team was investigating ‘Covid-19 passports’ for the app.
She said it was her hope ‘in the future to be able to have a single record as a citizen of your test results and whether you’ve been vaccinated’.
‘We are working very closely with the vaccine team to make sure that as we build tools that will enable people to be testing themselves at home and recording the results of their tests that we build an integrated data architecture,’ she added, reports The Times.
The Department for Transport is also looking at stamping the passports of tourists to show they have been vaccinated, reports suggested yesterday.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA), based in Montreal, Canada, also said it was looking at developing its own digital passport for travellers.
Its CEO Alexandre de Juniac said: ‘Testing is the first key to enable international travel without quarantine measures.
‘The second key is the global information infrastructure needed to securely manage, share and verify test data matched with traveller identities in compliance with border control requirements.’
Australian airline Qantas hit the headlines last week after it said that all those wishing to take its flights would need to be vaccinated against Covid-19.
The carrier’s boss, Alan Joyce, said the move was a ‘necessity’ and it was likely to become a ‘common thing’ for airlines around the world.
He warned, during an interview with Australia’s Nine Network, the airline was looking at ways to change its terms and conditions for international travellers.
He said: ‘We will ask people to have a vaccination before they can get on the aircraft for international visitors coming out and people leaving (Australia) we think that’s a necessity’.
Boris Johnson has suggested that those who repeatedly test negative for Covid-19 should get a ‘freedom pass’ allowing them to return to a more normal life, but is yet to signal his backing for ‘immunity passports’.
Speaking at a Downing Street press conference last week, he said: ‘This system is untried. There are many unknowns.
‘But if it works, we should be able to offer people who test negative the prospect of greater freedoms – to meet up in certain contexts with others who have tested negative.
He added: ‘We will give support to those who have tested positive to help them with isolation.
‘But they will know that at the end of their isolation they too will have the prospect of greater freedoms.’
Downing Street has warned the plan is still ‘some way off’.
In May, Matt Hancock confirmed ministers were looking at a ‘system of certification’ that would signify people who are safe to go back to work and mix freely with others.
And in April, the Health Secretary said Britons who have already have fought off the coronavirus could be given ‘immunity wristbands’.
Australian airline Quantas has warned it is looking at forcing all passengers to get vaccinated against the virus before they travel on its flights
Pfizer and Moderna have both revealed their vaccines against the virus are at least 90 per cent effective, with the UK’s regulator the MHRA expected to approve them for use in the country in the coming weeks.
As many as four million doses of Pfizer’s jab are expected to arrive this side of 2020, with a further delivery due in the new year.
Oxford’s vaccine has also been shown to be 60 per cent effective in trials when given as two full doses, or 90 per cent effective when given as a half-dose and a full–dose.
It is based on different technology to the others. While Pfizer and Moderna’s use virus mRNA, a type of protein, to trigger an immune response, their’s uses Covid-19 spike proteins attached to a weakened flu virus.
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