Australian govt in talks with international airlines on digital vaccine passport for travel

The Australian government is in talks with the IATA about a new digital certificate that could unlock quarantine-free overseas travel for vaccinated Australians. In recent days, the prime minister Scott Morrison has begun talking up the idea of a new digital vaccination passport that could be used for domestic travel, saying this would be the “next most achievable step” as more Australians became vaccinated. Morrison has also signalled that Singapore is the next most likely destination for a travel bubble with Australia, with negotiations between the two countries about how this would operate well under way. IATA has been in discussions with Australian Border Force about the use of the IATA Travel Pass – a mobile app that allows travellers to store and manage their verified certifications for Covid-19 tests and vaccines. Qantas has trialled the IATA pass, along with another similar product known as the CommonPass. While Australia does not have any national digital vaccination certification process in place, all immunisation data is stored by the department of social services.<br/>