"Vaccinated"... WHO Considers Introducing Electronic Certificate to Verify Vaccination Status

WHO "Introduction Not Confirmed... Different from Immunity Passport"

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Hyunjin] Ahead of the COVID-19 vaccination, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that it is considering the introduction of electronic vaccination certificates (e-vaccination certificates) that verify vaccination status.

According to major foreign media on the 3rd (local time), Siddhartha Datta, head of the WHO's European Vaccine-Preventable Diseases Program, said in a press briefing that day, "We are carefully reviewing the application of technology in response to COVID-19," adding, "One of the applicable technologies is researching the introduction of electronic vaccination certificates together with member countries."

However, he emphasized that the introduction of the certificates has not yet been finalized and must be tailored to the different legal realities of each country. He mentioned the need to review related laws, noting that COVID-19 response tracking applications used in some countries do not function overseas, highlighting differences in pandemic responses by country.

The vaccination certificate system is being pilot developed by WHO in collaboration with Estonia in Eastern Europe. Estonia initially started developing its own 'immune electronic passport' system. The immune passport is a type of certificate issued to patients who have recovered from COVID-19, assuming immunity has been formed, but there has been controversy since the immunity formation and duration of immunity for COVID-19 have not yet been clarified.

Siddhartha further distinguished the 'vaccination certificate' under consideration from the immune passport discussed since the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since last month, WHO has been jointly developing a vaccination certificate called the 'Smart Yellow Card' with Estonia, as part of building data to be used in the recent international project for joint vaccine procurement and distribution, the 'COVAX Facility.'

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.