Japan eyes issuing 'vaccine passport' from this summer

The Japanese government is considering issuing certificates from this summer to coronavirus vaccine recipients that would be necessary for them to travel overseas, government sources have said. With a growing number of countries checking visitors’ inoculation records as a border control measure, the “vaccine passport” is expected to facilitate business travel, the sources said Monday. Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato is heading a preparation team comprised foreign and health ministry officials that are looking into the issue. The team is considering specifying in the certificate the date of vaccination and the maker of the shot administered. The vaccine passport will initially be a paper certificate. But in the future it may be a smartphone app, the sources said. If the government decides to issue the certificate, it would then negotiate with other countries on whether Japanese nationals with the certificate would be exempt from quarantine after entry and on how Japan would treat visitors with similar certificates. Referring to concerns in some countries that issuing such a certificate would lead to discrimination against unvaccinated people, Kato said, “We will hold more discussions to respond well to moves overseas.”<br/>