How is this different from the uncontroversial practice of requiring yellow fever vaccinations when travelling to certain African or South American countries?
When traveling to African or South American countries, you have to show proof to a public immigration agent. I have an international vaccination passport, on paper, which has been 'good enough' to provide this proof. My health dossier is not publically accessible.
Currently, this check is
- looking at a piece of paper for the correct stamps,
- perfomed by a public immigration officer,
- upon entering a country.
With this QR code, I now put this check into the hands of
- any QR code 'reader' app,
- on a Google or iOS platform,
- which can be connected to the internet,
- performed by private companies (venue/event/organizer)
- upon entering a variety of locations.
It seems to me this is just a question of convenience.
Do you speak from experience?
The certificate is commonly checked in Africa, but as I said, often the official on the border checking it is not capable of understanding the details – they just look for the paper with the familiar color and logo. Also, it has been common for travelers unable to get the yellow fever vaccine in their home country (historically supplies in Eastern Europe have been scarce, for instance) to simply forge the certificate, which is easily done. The WHO is aware that some amount of certificates will be forgeries, but nevertheless believes that the policy of requiring vaccination will be enough to reduce the risk of outbreaks.