Sweden is prepared to produce a digital vaccine passport by the summertime, should it become an international standard for travel. Other Scandinavian countries like Denmark have also unveiled their own plans to produce such a travel document to boost travel and tourism as COVID-19 infections stabilise.

Sweden’s digitalisation minister said such documentation is necessary if the world was to return to some form of normality.

“When Sweden and countries around us start to open up our societies again, vaccination certificates are likely to be required for travel and possibly for taking part in other activities,” he said.

Israel has also hinted at the development of a “green passport” to allow inoculated people to eat in restaurants, go to the theatre and travel internationally without having to quarantine.

Meanwhile, EU leaders are debating the possibility of vaccine passports to allow people who are inoculated against COVID-19 to travel freely around the bloc.

Greek prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis wrote to the EU Commission to consider the proposal, saying it would encourage people to get vaccinated and boost tourism.

Maltese political figures like PN MEP Roberta Metsola and Health Minister Chris Fearne also endorsed the idea of EU-vaccine certificates in the battle against the pandemic. Malta’s Superintendent of Public Health also backed the idea.

The passport, which is being sold as a way to boost the global economy slumped by COVID-19, but some are sceptical about the idea.

Major capitals like Berlin seem weary, arguing it may discriminate against those who are fortunate enough to get the vaccine and those who don’t.

Germany’s ethics council, which advises the government, said that no special conditions should be granted to those that take the two jabs.

It argued that there was currently a lack of evidence over whether vaccinated people could still spread the virus and could also create a division between people based on their health status, which could be used to determine the degree of freedoms they can enjoy and present major privacy concerns.

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