Health: EU confirms plan to digitize the yellow vaccination card

The EU Commission has confirmed plans to digitize the yellow vaccination card from the World Health Organization (WHO). Commissioners for Justice, Didier Reynders, and Commissioners for Health, Stella Kyriakides, wrote that this is part of a global digital network for health certification by the WHO, which is based on the digital EU vaccination certificates from the corona pandemic.

In a letter to the CDU MEP Peter Liese, they further explained that the desired solution would not be limited to vaccinations against Covid-19 or other individual diseases. The “Rheinische Post” had previously reported.

Faster response to health threats

In June, the Brussels authority and the World Health Organization announced a partnership in digital healthcare. The WHO is introducing the certification network “to strengthen global preparedness against increasing threats to health,” the commission said at the time.

For this, the WHO should adopt the system behind the EU certificates for vaccination or recovery, including its principles and technology. “So, should a new health threat emerge, we will be able to respond more quickly,” the commissioners wrote.

Potential privacy concerns

The CDU politician Liese thinks the digitization of the vaccination card is right – everyone knows the situation of looking for the yellow booklet. “You always have it on your cell phone,” he told the German Press Agency. “An existing infrastructure is also a great advantage for potential other pandemics, then we are prepared for it.”

When asked about possible data protection concerns, he said: “If our data protection standards became a global standard, that would be very welcome. The fact that the WHO uses the EU system means that we have done well.”