EU leaders discuss plans for a vaccine passport to allow coronary virus recipients to travel freely around Europe as they meet almost to coordinate responses to the more contagious Covid variant that has passed first celebrated in the UK.
The proposal is being pushed by Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, but other EU capitals have serious doubts about the wisdom of the move. Concerns were raised at a recent meeting of EU health ministers, and capital letters include Berlin monitoring any system that discriminates between those lucky enough that they were vaccinated and the rest.
Mitsotakis, whose economy is heavily reliant on tourism, has written to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in support of the campaign, saying it would encourage people to to be vaccinated.
He wrote that vaccination would not be necessary for travel, but those who could confirm that they had received the injection would have proof that they did. “Ensuring the speedy restoration of freedom of movement… is essential, a fundamental priority for us all,” wrote Mitsotakis.
Uncertainty over whether vaccines prevent infection rather than simply provide immunity is another factor to be raised at the leaders’ debate next Thursday, sources said.
The World Health Organization’s emergency committee convened a meeting that was to be held in two weeks to discuss new modifications of Covid-19 on Thursday. In his opening remarks, WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus spoke about his concept of the possibility of vaccine licensing.
He said: “There are two urgent matters that require special attention, and we are seeking your advice. The first is the recent emergence of new variants of the Sars-CoV-2 virus, and the second is the potential use for vaccine certification and testing for international travel. One theme connects the two themes: loyalty. We cannot prioritize the punishment or punishment of particular groups or countries. “
The B117 version of the virus, first identified in the UK, is the biggest cause of concern among EU governments. Ireland has been hit hard among the 27 member states but a number of countries have identified issues. EU health ministers have been told by officials at the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control that there was a risk that the new variant on the continent would be under-reported.
The mutation was first discovered in the UK by the Covid-19 Genomics Consortium (Cog-UK), led by Professor Sharon Peacock from the University of Cambridge. The UK consortium has tracked the genetic history of more than 150,000 samples of the Sars-Cov-2 virus, equivalent to about half of the world’s genetic classifications of coronavirus.
Such research has been carried out to a much lesser extent by research organizations among EU member states, urging the commission to persuade health ministries to find the opposite a priority.
In its weekly epidemiological update, the WHO reported that the first-discovered coronavirus mutation in the UK had spread to 50 regions, and a South African-like snout was detected in 20.
A third mutation, emanating from the Brazilian Amazon, is being analyzed amid fears that it could affect the immune response, which could make vaccines so effective.