In Denmark, several companies have reopened. But to be able to go to the hairdresser or get a massage, you must present a digital corona certificate.
In this country, the government is now working intensively on the development of a similar document.
– We are now working on making a corona certificate, says Prime Minister Erna Solberg (H).
But the discussion has raged violently, as the use of vaccine certificates creates both challenges and dilemmas – which may seem unfair.
Minister of Health and Care Services Bent Høie (H) points out that we must not call it a vaccine certificate.
– It is wrong to call it a vaccine passport, and that is an important point, because it is much more than just that, says Høie.
Fresh test
The Minister of Health says that if we are to be able to use such a passport as a tool to be able to open up society more, it will mean that the passport also has test results.
– If you get vaccinated, you are allowed to do things. But if you have not been vaccinated, you can show a test, which is less than 72 hours old, and can then do the same as the vaccinated. In this way, we can open up to more people and avoid some of the injustice that many have been concerned about, says Høie.
– Does that mean that it is a question of a corona passport?
– In the EU it is called the green card and in Denmark the corona certificate. This is something we are working on, together with the other countries in the EU. The idea is that this passport can contain vaccine status, test status, but also if you have been through covid-19 and thus have immunity, says Høie.
– When do you conclude?
– We hope to conclude as soon as possible. As for the international certificate, the goal is to get it in place before 1 July.
International solution
Nor will the Prime Minister come up with a date for when the corona passport can be ready.
– Our ambition is to land a solution for such a certificate within a reasonable time, says Solberg.
It was in mid-March that the European Commission presented its proposal for a digital vaccine passport. And the Norwegian solution will be in line with the EU’s digital green certificate.
It has been a clear ambition of the EU and WHO that the European solution should be adapted to an international solution.
In order for a common digital green certificate to be approved, the approval of the Union’s 27 member states is required.
FHI is positive
NIPH director Camilla Stoltenberg says they are positive about vaccine passes in Norway, as both Denmark and England have partially introduced.
– We have not made any final assessment of it, but we are positive to use vaccine certificates, says Stoltenberg.
Stoltenberg notes that the development of vaccine certificates largely takes place in the EU, and that Norway must relate to what the EU arrives at.
The FHI director says she expects that FHI, together with the Norwegian Directorate of Health, will soon be commissioned to investigate the use of this passport.
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