Australian ‘vaccination passport’ coming to Apple Wallet

If the registered provider of your yellow fever vaccine is in Australia you can ask them to enter it into the Australian Immunisation Register.  

If the provider of any vaccine is overseas then you can request they provide you with documentation of your vaccine, and give that document to an Australian vaccine provider for them to enter it into the Register.

Well there's some action, based on this request to tender. I agree that it would have been great for the government to do this a year ago or even at the start of the year but you know what they say, if the best time to do something was in the past, the second-best time to do something is today. And you gotta start somewhere, sometime.

Not much will be done to reopen international borders until after the next federal election which could be a year away. 

Until then then you are right. It will all be talk or trials involving next to no one. Just to be seen to be doing something. 

I cannot agree more. Though I think the politicians will probably start rolling out all the digital vaccine certificates and start opening up the international border more significantly just right before election. The savior finally delivers its promise. Wouldn't that be grand?

I honestly don't understand why they can't just adopt the Travel Pass app right now just to get things moving. But I suppose it's better to do it once and do it right, well that's the theory anyway!

Myiy it is already there. The Medicare app has the vaccination history for all vaccines just download it and see mine is there for the past few years. This is a smoke and mirrors rebadging of what is there.

That'd be a brave move given a huge percentage of both UK and Germany are vaccinated with A-Z.  

Don't count on it. Canadians vaccinated with AZ who bought tickets to the Springsteen concert in NYC found themselves barred because they'd had an unauthorised vaccine. That's one big venue, of course, but it doesn't bode well for the bigger picture.

I don't think so. There are too many implementation issues for this to become practical moving forward; some governments refuse to share medical data and even apps or results can be forged.

Travel will never return to the good old days if there is layer upon layer of bureaucracy attached to it.

Covid testing will only work if it's free, non-invasive (such as a spit or swab test) and returns instantaneous results, performed at the border. Any other method such as PCR testing is impractical, cumbersome and serves to discourage travel.

Vaccination is not a clear way out either. They simply aren't as effective as claimed, none are approved (they're all being used under emergency use authorisations) and one has to think logically here: a pandemic doesn't last forever. The worst pandemics last 2-3 years. The Spanish flu being a classic example. Once it's over, it's over for good. At that point we can go back to the 2019 normal.

The only reason why we might not, is because vested interests and power hungry governments and corporations have other plans.

Besides, presumably by this time next year, most of the world will have achieved "herd immunity". Previous predictions might have suggested poor countries like Cambodia won't achieve this for several more years, but as of right now, 45% of the target population has been fully vaccinated, a far higher percentage than Australia, a much richer country. I think by this time next year the majority of the world will have achieved this milestone.

I'm remaining cautiously optimistic, but at some point, whether it's in a year from now or perhaps 2023, we should start to see the return of normal travel.

My hunch is that this vaccination passport is a gimmick to coerce people into getting vaccinated. It won't ever take off. Many governments refuse to share confidential medical information and it's mostly airlines, rather than governments, that have been pushing forward with this plan.

Results can be forged so even if it's electronic form, there is no guarantee the person holding the app will have actually been vaccinated or tested.

I think at some point, which may be hard to see now but it will happen, all of these barriers will come down and normal travel will resume. Of course, that will only happen once enough people have been coerced into taking these products. I certainly won't be one of them, but it will be easy to reach the 70% "herd immunity" target of adults aged 18+ in most countries.

We'll just have to sit back and relax, because there won't be anything resembling normal travel resuming before around this time next year (or only very limited travel between regions).

No one is trying to force anyone to get vaccinated.  Of course you have the choice whether to have it or not.  However, all choices have consequences and choosing not to get a Covid-19 vaccination may well mean that you are also choosing not to travel overseas.

Ozshanel, there is plenty of coercion going on. Either you're choosing to remain ignorant or are simply ignoring the evidence around you. In some countries, vaccination is mandatory (or about to be) or leaders are threatening their citizens to get the vaccine. Look at what the Filipino President, Duterte said recently in a nationwide address.

As stated, vaccinations aren't the key to resuming international travel. You'll see. This won't last forever. As it stands, getting vaccinated doesn't get you out of other obligations nor does it return any freedoms to you.

Want to visit Phuket, Thailand? Aside from being vaccinated, you need to take 4 tests - one pre-departure, one on arrival and 2 more during your stay. You'll also be tracked and hospitalized in case you test positive, even if you display no symptoms. During the initial arrival phase, you will be taken to your hotel and be required to stay in your room until the results come back as negative, which may take up to 24 hours. You aren't allowed to rent a car and drive there yourself - the hotel must take you. You must also return to your room every night and be cared for by a "handler".

As long as this "pandemic" rages, this is the sort of thing that awaits travellers, vaccinated or not.

Post-pandemic, I can't see much of this lasting, other than possibly increased surveillance which may include thermal screening areas at airports and border crossings (something China has been doing continuously since SARS in 2003).

Now if for whatever reason it did last, you can be assured that we're never going back to any semblance of normal travel again. It's either - remove the restrictions or keep them in place specifically to make travel as cumbersome and unpleasant as possible.

Tests like that are only necessary when the visiting country is not well vaccinated hence why vaccination is a global effort if we want to travel anywhere anytime soon. Even if you are vaccinated, you can still be positive with COVID bringing severe consequences to those unvaccinated. Of course if the majority of people are vaccinated (willingly of course), then this wouldn't be a problem and travel can resume as normal. 

The virus will last, it's here for generations. Hopefully the more the northern hemisphere countries open the quicker the 'closed' countries will realise they are being left behind. At the very least it's good to see the trial in SA of vaccinated travellers being allowed to leave even if they still have to quarantine at home on return.

By rubbish, I guess you mean anything you don't agree with?

Even Dan was saying that once everyone has been offered the vaccine "the rules will change" and that suggests lockdowns and borders restrictions will stop. Let's hope that's by December at the latest!

The issue is whatever international vaccine passport has to be recognised globally.  MyGov does not have the requisite security built-in that it can be easily shared between countries.  The government has issued a tender for a new scheme that will interact with the MyGov system to retrieve the data but present it globally with a more secure BlockChain based product.  

Yep, very well said XWu. I've been saying the same thing for months now - the whole app thing won't fly - anyone can hack it. It's far from foolproof.

Freq the app is there on your Medicare record which can be down loaded or have it on the phone. The app thing has already ‘flown’ my vaccination record goes back to 2018. 

Patrick - that's an Australian government database. It can still be hacked into, or forged etc. (especially if this is to be used overseas, no one would know) and so far hasn't been needed for international travel. The next question is - will the Australian government share private health data with foreign governments, airlines etc.?

Not sure the Australian public would be happy about that and already China and the United States have ruled out this possibility. Since they have far greater populations and political influence, I think you can tell where this is going.

Freq my colleagues in India are having it linked to their passport, so when the passport is swiped the vaccination record pops up.

Yes, but that is highly susceptible to fraudulent copying so may not be accepted globally.  You surely want a system that enables you to quickly pass international borders not spend hours why border agents check the legitimacy of your card.

As I understand it, the international system will access the data held in the immunisation register but it won't be the same system.  It will be a new Blockchain based product with a much higher level of security which would be accepted by all western nations and very hard to manipulate illegally. 

Like all sorts of things, participation is voluntary.  You could choose not to have a vaccination or an electronic vaccination record but you need to accept that this will probably have consequences with other countries denying you clear passage across their borders, insurers denying you travel insurance coverage and the requirement for up to 14 days quarantine when you return to Australia.  These may be consequences you are happy to accept and good luck if that is your choice.  

Your comment about under 40s is hardly relevant to international borders given no one in Australia can currently cross these borders at will and it is impossible that this will change before the vaccination program has made vaccines available to everyone who wants them.

I have travelled overseas recently. So travel is happening. Watch how 'normal' behaviour returns so quickly in the US and the UK over the last few weeks. Check out the music event in St Kilda recently in Victoria. Normality will return very quickly.

I wondered that too. I also have that app and certificate - very useful. :)

Just book and go. The government will grant you permission if you are not overly candid on your application or use NZ to escape!

GoRobin I think we agree for once. A vaccination only means you will be less sick and less infectious both of which are good things but they need to be with negative tests to reduce the risk further to unvaccinated people you may come across.

In a recent interview, which I watched (I think it was Channel 9) regarding the 4 steps to re-opening, the PM indicated that there will be two systems operating concurrently going forward. Vaccinated individuals may eventually be allowed to travel freely into/out of the country without showing a Covid test result, whereas the unvaccinated will need to present a negative test result.

I don't see either one being a travel requirement into the distant future, this is more about where things are likely to stand once borders initially re-open and will probably depend a lot on where the traveller is coming from in terms of risk (low, medium or high).

Unfortunately, New Zealand now requires a negative test result to fly as part of the Australia-New Zealand travel bubble, which is expensive, cumbersome and will serve to dissuade travellers, particularly leisure travellers, from going. However, I think it's quite possible that under the current pandemic rules, this requirement could change again whereby no test is required, once Australian states have stopped recording community transmissions (or very few, say 5-10 a day or less throughout the whole country) for a period of at least 2 weeks.

This is exactly what Turkey did some time ago. Initially, testing was required for all (or nearly all) foreign arrivals, but several countries have since been put on the "green list" and thus not requiring testing to be allowed to enter the country. Australia is on this green list, due to low levels of community transmission.

The travel situation is fluid and continues to evolve almost daily.

@edward999

I believe you meant to say AZ is currently not FDA approved for emergency use; whereas AZ is approved for normal use in Australia by our TGA (ie not under emergency authorisation). AZ appears to be eligible for application for emergency use in the US by FDA but I think they announced they intend to apply for full normal use rather than emergency. Many of the US states will be likely to continue to use Pfizer and Moderna so AZ realised they lost any advantage in getting emergency use. I suspect they still want to get FDA approval (but for normal use) as many other countries take their cues from the FDA and if they are FDA approved for the US, then many other countries more like to follow suit.

Any country who want to discriminate travellers who had WHO approved vaccine but the types are the Chinese vaccine (and the Russia and Indian vaccines) would do so at their peril since at least half the world do not have access to Pfizer/Moderna/AZ/J&J vaccine due to cost, availability and distribution difficulties so it is inherently unfair.

More importantly the vast majority of China, South Asian continent and Africa will be vaccinated by Chinese or Indian vaccine, and they are the world sources of big spending tourists, cheaper professionals and skilled migrants so not recognising the Chinese or Indian vaccines is akin to keeping borders closed to these countries. 

XWu AZ is an Indian produced vaccine. The largest AZ factory is in India. So not recognising Indian vaccines is not recognising AZ