Vaccine passport to be introduced by airlines from March

With this passport, you can fly anywhere without the need to present any of your official vaccine-related documentation. The application will include digital watermarks, however, and in the case that you do not have them, the authorities completing the check-up can ask where you obtained your vaccination documentation from.

As we previously wrote, the whole world, including Hungary, is working on a solution to get back to our normal lives and find a solution that makes travelling possible and somewhat easier during the pandemic. Starting from March, the biggest airlines will start using a digital certificate for the Covid-19 vaccine, called Travel Pass, which could boost the reopening of borders, aviation, and the revival of previously lively traffic among countries, said Alan Murray Hayden, the head of passenger and security products of IATA (International Air Transport Association). According to the news portal Travel Weekly, he said that bringing this unified digital solution forth is big progress.

He reminded everyone that the purpose of this digital vaccine passport is for a passenger to be able to walk from the pavement to a plane without having to physically exchange documents;

in other words, without the need to verify documents, thus enjoying the service of international flights in a safer way.

In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, IATA has built the Travel Pass on top of their existing solution of contactless verification of passengers, which has been in use for decades by travel agencies and airlines. This more reliable solution, which runs on a smartphone, stores and, when needed, updates the certificate of getting the Covid-19 vaccine, or when and with what result a person was tested for the virus, writes MagyarNemzet.hu. 

Developers have thought about those who would try to trick the system by implementing digital watermarks in the original program. In the absence of these, authorities can ask the question “Who gave you this certificate; did they give it to you and only you; and lastly, has it been tampered with?”

The unified solution is made up of four elements; for instance, it provides information about the health requirements in a given country, for which it offers a list of labs and centres that perform check-ups and tests.

The app is very safe as it enables testing labs to securely send test results and certificates to passengers.

Moreover, the passengers themselves can upload these documents and share them with the airline or with the authorities of the destination country.

“Our priority is for passengers to be able to travel safely,” said IATA, also adding that a certain level of trust needs to be given to governments. The vaccination and testing programmes implemented instead of lockdown requirements serve this purpose. All these are unified with the Travel Pass application.

“We need to react to the demands of the industry while enabling a competitive market.”

Source: MagyarNemzet.hu