Denmark Working on Digital Coronavirus Passport in Order to Enable Foreign Travel

The Danish government has moved forward with its plans to grant Danes who get both vaccine shorts against COVID-19 with “vaccine certificates,” announcing that by the end of February, the certificates will be available to obtain at Sundhed.dk.

At the same time, Denmark has revealed its plans to launch a digital Coronavirus passport in collaboration with business, in order to allow foreign travel and for restrictions to be eased, which plans, according to the government, will need another three or four months to come into life.

Vaccine passports, which not only Denmark but other EU countries warned they will soon start issuing and implementing, had been warned about at the beginning of the pandemic as a requirement that would sooner or later be implemented.

Announcing the government’s plan on vaccination certificates, the Acting Minister of Finance Morten Bødskov pointed out that it is for us to restart Danish society for many Danish companies, that are global companies with the whole world as a market.

“The government is therefore quickly launching a solution that can be used in connection with travel, and will also investigate the possibility of making a digital corona pass that can be used in several contexts,” the Acting Minister Bødskov said.

Trade and Industry Acting Minister Dan Jørgensen also expressed his belief that the development of a Coronavirus passport for vaccinated business travellers, the situation may recuperate.

The Minister of Culture Joy Mogensen, on the other hand, noted that the government is now investigating whether a digital corona passport can be developed that can be used in connection with the reopening of Denmark.

“The solution is developed together with key representatives from the cultural and business community to ensure that the Corona passport meets the specific needs of companies and cultural life. In this way, we can design a passport that fits as well as possible to the conditions of business and cultural life,” Minister Mogensen said.

Denmark first revealed its plans to introduce a “vaccine passport” for Danish travellers at the bringing of January. At the time, the Danish government has said it would start issuing these documents by the end of January, which has now been postponed to the end of February.

The government hopes that the vaccination passports will contribute to a gradual, sound, and appropriate reopening in Denmark, while at the same time matching the requirement for such documents set by the EU.

 like testing and quarantine for travellers who get vaccinated against COVID-19 starting from March 2021.

Later on, other EU countries announced similar plans, including Greece, Romania, and Iceland. The latter has already started issuing vaccination certificates for Icelandic citizens who received both jabs of the vaccine against COVID-19. It has also started permitting restriction-free entry for those who can prove that they have been vaccinated against the virus.

Yet, the idea of COVID-19 passports failed to gain the support of World Health Organization which has called on governments to refrain from introducing such requirements as a condition of entry for international travel, insisting there are still some uncertainties regarding the effectiveness of vaccination.