World’s First: China Takes the Lead on “Vaccine Passport”

Starting this week, China is at the forefront of the world’s so-called “vaccine passport” by offering its citizens a “health certificate for international travel”.

​The digital health certificate, which can be downloaded on Chinese social media WeChat starting Monday, records data on vaccinations and new crown tests.

（Source: The Straits Times)

During the “two sessions” in Beijing, Chinese State Councilor Foreign Minister Wang Yi said the health certificate is a “practical Chinese solution” to facilitate the world’s economic recovery and the movement of people across borders. However, the use of the international travel health certificate is still based on the voluntary principle and is only available to Chinese citizens. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said on Monday: “The global epidemic is still ongoing, the world economy is in urgent need of recovery, and the need to facilitate the movement of people is increasingly urgent.

Recently, countries have accelerated vaccination, and mutual recognition of vaccines has become a core element of international mutual recognition of health codes. To promote world economic recovery and facilitate cross-border movement of people, China has launched the Chinese version of the International Travel Health Certificate, which is used to display health information such as nucleic acid serum Igm antibody test results and vaccination status of Chinese outbound travellers.”

In addition to the digital version, the international travel certificate, which is also available in paper form, is the first known “New Crown Vaccine Passport” in the world. The United States and the United Kingdom are also currently considering the possibility of introducing a related health certificate.