TORONTO -- As vaccines continue to roll out across the globe, conversations surrounding 鈥渧accine passports鈥 or any other kind of government-issued papers used to show a person has been inoculated against COVID-19 are ramping up.
Israel has , and while several European countries have followed suit and expressed they are considering implementing their own.
Denmark and Sweden they were developing digital passports.
On March 1, President of the European Commissions that a proposed 鈥淒igital Green Pass鈥 would assists EU citizens move around safely for work or tourism.
Von der Leyen specified the pass would also contain the results of a COVID-19 test for those who cannot be vaccinated, and would 鈥渞espect data protection, security and privacy.鈥
Canada has also mulled the prospect of vaccine passports, with federal Health Minister Patty Hajdu saying conversations are 鈥渧ery live鈥 with G7 partners.
Ontario, Quebec and Manitoba have said they are considering immunity passports but director of the School of Public Administration at Dalhousie University, Lori Turnbull, says the situation is 鈥渢ricky.鈥
鈥淚n the initial stages because we鈥檝e never done something like this before, I think what the government is going to have to do is issue really clear guidelines to everybody on what is an appropriate what is an inappropriate use of these things,鈥 Turnbull said on CTV鈥檚 Your Morning Tuesday.
Turnbull said that Canadians can expect some 鈥渃onfusion in the early stages鈥 of developing vaccine passports as the COVID-19 pandemic is an 鈥渆volving situation.鈥
鈥淚 think the clearer the government can be on what is the right way and what isn鈥檛 for these things to be used is where the key is,鈥 she said.
The passports would have to be 鈥渂ased on data,鈥 Turnbull said, and flexible enough that if 鈥渆verything is working right鈥 people who cannot get vaccines, such as those who are immunocompromised, would be able to have that noted in the system and 鈥済et a pass.鈥
鈥淧eople are going to be interested in travelling as soon as they can, and they鈥檙e going to want to feel safe and many are not going to have an issue at all, they鈥檙e going to want a digital passport,鈥 Turnbull said.
She also said it would be 鈥渋nteresting鈥 to observe the development of vaccine passports by different global governments 鈥 how they compile them, what data they use and who will accept whose passport across borders.
鈥淭his is going to be a long complex global dialogue,鈥 Turnbull said, noting many ideas are being floated 鈥 including a 鈥渟tandardized鈥 vaccine passport across the world.
鈥淚 think that鈥檚 what a lot of people might want,鈥 Turnbull said. 鈥淵ou wouldn鈥檛 want to see places where one digital passport is accepted and another is not 鈥 that鈥檚 going to lead to a lot of inequitable situations across the world.鈥
However, Turnbull said the question remains that if the international community is going to adopt a single model, 鈥渨ho鈥檚 going to lead that conversation? And what happens if some places don鈥檛 have the digital capacity to keep up with that?鈥
Any and all conversations about vaccine or immunity passports also hinge on the availability and rollout of vaccines themselves.
鈥淚f we see some parts of the world that are not able to get into this conversation because they don鈥檛 have access to vaccines, that鈥檚 a global problem we will have to deal with,鈥 Turnbull said. 鈥淐OVID is not an isolated issue for anybody, we all have to sort it out together.鈥
