UK Poised to Join EU’s Covid Passport Scheme

The United Kingdom is poised to be on the verge of joining the EU’s Covid vaccination passport scheme.

For British travelers, the EU Digital Covid Certificate should make traveling in Europe easier and less expensive.

The EU told the Daily Telegraph on Saturday that integration of the UK’s vaccine database into the EU system was nearing completion.

According to the European Commission spokesman, “­­Significant progress was made on a technical front, namely when it comes to the connection to the gateway, with aim of going live [testing] soon.”

In the United Kingdom, the program is co-ordinated by the Foreign Office and the Department of Health and Social Care. On 28th July, they formally registered to join the EU scheme, and technical work has been ongoing behind the scenes since then.

The spokesman for the Foreign Office informed the newspaper: “We have applied to link into the EU’s Digital Covid Certificate scheme.

“Linking up to the EU’s Digital Covid Certificate scheme will enable us to digitally verify each other’s Covid certificates to make journeys easier.”

The EU Digital Covid Certificate has quickly grown to become the world’s largest vaccine passport system, with more than 40 countries covered, including all 27 EU member states as well as Israel and Panama.

The system functions as a massive digital platform or “portal” through which vaccine certificates and test results from many countries may be swiftly and readily inspected and certified as genuine by others.

It’s used at all EU external borders, as well as for domestic vaccine passports in countries like France, Holland, and Portugal.

Border guards download an app that reads the QR code on a person’s vaccination certificate or a negative test result. The app glows green and the person is free to proceed if the QR code was provided by a member country and is valid. Unauthorized or forged injections are readily detected.

Joining the EU plan should make it easier to travel to and within Europe.

Double-jabbed Because their jabs are not recognized by the EU Digital Covid Certificate, Britons traveling to Portugal, for example, must purchase a lateral flow test before departure, which costs between £20 and £40.

When the United Kingdom joins the federalized EU structure, this will change for Portugal and other countries.

Karen Dee, the chief executive of the Airport Operators Association, said the digital passport would “make life easy for business and leisure travelers” but urged the government to scrap day-two tests for fully-jabbed arrivals to line the UK with the European testing regime.

Joining will also make it easier to go into restaurants, pubs, and events in countries that have local Covid passport schemes, such as France, Italy, Portugal, Germany, and Holland.