Vaccination Passport for Traveling within EU Only for Vaccines Approved by EMA – Serbia Waiting for Official Decision

The coronavirus vaccination passport, which enables free traveling within the European Union, should come into effect on March 17, and will be valid only for the vaccines the effectiveness of which has been confirmed by the European Medicines Agency (EMA), as confirmed by the European Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson.

The news was first reported from EU sources by the TV network Euronews, and, as said, the passport does not exclude the possibility of citizens within EU traveling based on tests which prove that they are not infected or if they agree to be quarantined.

The European Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders, according to these sources, emphasized that EU member states may approve vaccination for their citizens for various vaccines, but the free travel permit is issued only for those vaccines that have been approved by the competent European body, namely, Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson.

The passport will be available in a digital, electronic form and as a paper certification.

Citizens within the EU will thereby be able to travel freely and, along with the tests and the quarantine, any form of discrimination is avoided. What remains now is for the decision on the passport, the vaccination certificate, to be confirmed by the European Parliament in a summary procedure.

Matic: We are waiting for an official EU decision

Tatjana Matic, Serbian Minister of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications, says for the Kurir daily regarding these announcements, which exclude the Chinese and the Russian vaccines, which are approved in Serbia, that the Government of Serbia and the competent ministry are waiting for the official and single decision on the Union, which is expected on March 17.

– In the draft document, which was sent from Brussels for institutions in Serbia to view, vaccine type is not cited as a condition for the issuing of digital certificates – Matic points out and adds that no quick assumptions should be made, especially since it is known that the Russian vaccine is undergoing the procedure of being certified by the EMA.

Quick and mass immunization, she says, is the best response when it comes to protecting all citizens’ health and any restrictions in the vaccination process can have an adverse effect.

– That would amount to a violation of the basic European values and a politization of what is exclusively an issue of health – Matic emphasizes.

Ministarstvo turizma i omladine Republike Srbije

European Medicines Agency

EMA

Ministry of Trade Tourism and Telecommunications

Ylva Johansson

Didier Reynders

Tatjana Matic

Pfizer BioNTech

Moderna

AstraZeneca

Johnson and Johnson

covid passport

vaccination

coronavirus vaccination

coronavirus