What will raise the barrier at the border?
The EU is going to introduce a European digital vaccination passport from 1 June. In March, it was presented by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. It was promised that for the holders of this document, freedom of movement will become as commonplace as it was before the spring of 2020.
A year ago, the intra-European borders were closed, which practically did not exist for many years. At first, it seemed that border slingshots and lowered barriers were a fleeting phenomenon, like a covid in a mild form. But alas, the periods of unblocking the borders were fleeting. The second lockdown, which began in December and continues to this day, is associated with almost chaotic measures to reduce the flow of people moving across the borders.
Over the past year, European states have tested various spontaneous undertakings. Now they are counting on the fact that with the introduction of a digital passport, common for the entire European Union, the whole assortment of control measures will become a thing of the past.
Digital Green Certificate is its official name. In fact, it is an electronic alternative to the vaccination passport (Impfpass), which all residents of Germany have. The electronic version is being developed by the American IT giant IBM, commissioned by the European Commission. What will be its difference from the usual paper form?
Actually, the original of the new passport will also be on paper. And the electronic form implies access through the matrix code (QR-Code), which has also become familiar to many. The code stamp is saved in a smartphone or as a paper sticker on a regular passport. There will be no need to carry a vaccination passport with you everywhere.
What will the passport tell you about? Of course, there will be a note on the vaccine against covid. The presence of the vaccination will be the "master key" for border gates. In principle, it will open other “blocked” zones as well. It can be expected during the holiday season that hotel accommodations, visits to spas, beaches, crowded sightseeing facilities, etc. will be possible only for vaccinated citizens. What a vacation! Theaters, cinemas and other cultural institutions are still closed in Germany. Nobody knows when they will open. Perhaps in the second half of April. And even more so, no one will say how it will be possible to get into them. It is very likely that everyone has the same passport. So the green certificate will become a universal pass.
It will record not only the data on the vaccinations received, but also the results of the current corona tests. This is important for two reasons. First, the negative test mark is exactly the same pass as the covid vaccine. Discrimination is excluded for those who have not yet had time to get vaccinated (in Germany, vaccinations are done according to a pre-arranged sequence) or do not want to do this at all. Division into people of the first or second class will not be allowed. Secondly, it is possible that the test results will be needed not instead of vaccination data, but on a par with them, since even vaccinated people can be carriers of an infection to which they themselves are immune. The certificate will also contain a mark about the transferred coronavirus disease.
Germany has already deployed an extensive rapid test and self-test infrastructure. The test can be done at your family doctor or at any pharmacy. Or buy a self-test kit from the same pharmacy, even a supermarket. Where it is necessary to show the result, we present the pieces of paper received from a doctor or pharmacist. All this heap of papers will replace the "digital green certificate".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ursula_von_der_Leyen
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jul/16/who-is-ursula-von-der-leyen-the-new-eu-commission-president
https://www1.wdr.de/nachrichten/themen/coronavirus/corona-impfpass-impfausweis-eu-100.html
https://www.gesundheit.gv.at/elga/was-ist-elga/elektronischer-impfpass
