The European Commission is in favor of the idea of ​​a vaccination certificate against the new coronavirus which is “mutually recognized”, said its president, Ursula von der Leyen, in an interview with several Portuguese media before her visit to Lisbon on Friday .

“It is a medical imperative to have a vaccination certificate. It is for this reason that I welcome the initiative of the Greek Prime Minister (Kyriakos Mitsotakis, editor’s note) for a mutually recognized vaccination certificate”, a- she declared.

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European coordination necessary

“If this gives priority or access to certain goods, it is a political and legal decision which must be discussed at European level”, she added, while the 27 will hold a new summit on their coordination next Thursday. in the face of the health crisis.

The head of the Greek government called on January 12 the European Union to adopt a “standardized” vaccination certificate to give a boost to the tourism industry, devastated by the coronavirus pandemic.

“There is an urgent need to develop a common agreement on the creation of a vaccination certificate that will be accepted by all member countries,” Mitsotakis wrote, stressing that “a standardized certificate will be proof that a person has been successfully vaccinated “.

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An idea already under development

IT companies including Microsoft, healthcare institutions and NGOs have formed a coalition to develop a vaccination passport, anticipating the potential need for people to have to prove to authorities and businesses that they are vaccinated against Covid. -19.

“The goal is to allow individuals to have access to their vaccination record and to use tools like CommonPass (a digital wallet, editor’s note) to return to work and school, to start traveling and living again, while protecting the confidentiality of their data, “said Paul Meyer, head of the Commons Project foundation, in a statement released Thursday.

The coalition called VCI (Vaccination Credential Initiative) includes Microsoft, Salesforce and Oracle. “The current immunization files do not allow access, control and sharing of verified information,” the statement noted. They want to create a standard template for organizations that administer vaccines to make certificates accessible in digital or paper format.