Committee
Health and Sport Committee 09 March 2021
09 Mar 2021 · S5 · Health and Sport Committee
Item of business
Subordinate Legislation
Health Protection (Coronavirus) (International Travel) (Scotland) Amendment (No 7) Regulations 2021 (SSI 2021/111)
I recognise Mr Stewart’s interest in the matter of vaccine passports, which could play an important part in re-establishing international travel. As you rightly highlight, there are a number of ethical issues with the idea of vaccine certification or, as it is often referred to, vaccine passports. However, I think that they will have a part to play at a later stage in the months ahead. 11:45 We are already engaged with the UK Government on the matter, and I have indicated through the regular Covid operations, or Covid-O, committee meetings that we are looking to work on a four-nations basis on the development of any vaccine certification process. Our officials in the Scottish Government are also engaged with the World Health Organization on the matter. The WHO is looking to develop a set of data-specific regulations that could be applied universally across the world to a vaccine certification programme, similar to that for yellow fever. The WHO is trying to create a system that could work globally, and we are engaged in that process. I agree that vaccine certification will have a role to play in the recovery of international travel, and we are engaged in the process. However, the benefits of such a programme do not remove some of the risks that are still associated with variants of concern, and they are dependent on the scale and nature of vaccination that is taking place in other countries across the world. As you rightly say, there is a danger that some countries are significantly behind others with the roll-out of vaccination, which could have a significant impact on people’s ability to travel in other parts of the world. We are already looking to develop our thinking around how vaccine certification would operate through the data system that we have in NHS Scotland. We must also be mindful of the associated ethical issues, and recognise that it is not a replacement for measures such as self-isolation in helping to reduce the risk of introducing new variants into the country.
In the same item of business
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Lab
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Lab
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Lab
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Lab
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Lab
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SNP
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David Stewart
Lab
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SNP
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David Stewart
Lab
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SNP
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David Stewart
Lab
Thank you.
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