Airlines ask WHO to back quarantine-free travel after vaccines

The airline industry has called on the WHO to rule it’s safe for people to fly without quarantining once they’ve had a coronavirus vaccine. Acknowledgement of that principle from the UN agency is vital to the development of a digital-travel pass aimed at getting people moving again once infection rates ease, the IATA said Wednesday. “We can say whatever we want, what we do need is for the WHO to come out and say the same thing, so that it becomes a universal acceptance that once you’re vaccinated you should not have to go through any of these hoops,” Nick Careen, IATA’s senior VP for passenger matters, said in a briefing. The development of common standards for vaccine certificates, a key aspect of IATA’s proposed Travel Pass smartphone app, needs to move much faster, Careen said. Paper-based accreditation is more open to fraud, with several cases having already emerged, he said. The IATA app, which can also be used to store a negative test result, is due to be launched in March. “We have been suggesting this for months,” he said. “The WHO needs a fire lit underneath it to get this done sooner rather than later. Even then, there’s no guarantee that every government will adopt the standard right away.” The WHO’S Emergency Committee on Covid-19 doesn’t recommend countries demand proof of vaccination from incoming travelers, as the impact of inoculations in reducing transmission is unknown, the agency said on Jan. 15. <br/>