A Covid-19 vaccine passport system may soon be introduced in Scotland.
Jason Leitch, the country's national clinical director, said the passports are an "interesting concept".
But what are the passports, and how would they work in Scotland?
What is a 'vaccine passport'?
A vaccine passport is an internationally recognised travel pass which would prove whether or not people have had a Covid vaccine.
It could, if implemented, allow people to prove their status and potentially travel abroad.
It is being pushed forward by former prime minister Tony Blair, who told Boris Johnson that Britain should use its presidency of the G7 to launch the “international Covid Pass”.
What would a vaccine passport look like?
It is far too early to say, however Mr Blair says he believes the passport scheme should consist of a single, standardised digital system. He says it should be capable of tracking and verifying an individual's vaccine status across the world.
It could, according to Blair, involve not only how many vaccinations someone has had (one or two doses), but also any test results they may have had in the past.
It is hoped that the data would be transferred using a QR code, which would be scanned by participating countries at borders and ports.
Will vaccine passports be introduced in Scotland?
In evidence to the Scottish Parliament’s Covid-19 Committee on Thursday, Professor Leitch said coronavirus is likely to be present in some sort of “endemic” form for years to come.
When he was asked about vaccine passports, he said: “I agree it is an interesting concept, the WHO (World Health Organisation) have begun to look at it.”
He stressed the latest scientific evidence suggests vaccination is not a “binary” state, but there is precedent for travel restrictions based on vaccination – including yellow fever certificates.
Prof Leitch said: “I think we will probably move towards that. I haven’t seen the exact details of what Mr Blair’s think tank have said but I imagine it’s relatively sensible, it’s about doing it globally rather than just an individual region of the world.”
What are others across the world saying?
Zurab Pololikashvili, the UN World Tourism Organisation’s secretary-general, last week told the Global Tourism Crisis Committee in Madrid: “Vaccines must be part of a wider, coordinated approach that includes certificates and passes for safe cross-border travel”.
The leaders of Spain, Italy, Greece, Cyprus and Malta have called for the introduction of certificates which designate if a traveller has been vaccinated or not.
On Monday, Australia’s education minister, Alan Tudge, said planned “digital vaccine certificates” would allow international students to return to study in the country without the need for them to hotel quarantine.
Are there any problems with the vaccine passport?
The head of the UK’s data privacy watchdog has told MPs she can see the benefit of Covid-19 immunity passports, but warned they came with privacy concerns.
Information commissioner Elizabeth Denham was asked by MPs on the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) sub-committee on Online Harms and Disinformation about the possible use of special passports to allow those who had been vaccinated to move more freely.
She said any such scheme would face substantial questions over its necessity and concerns over the sharing of health data, but warned of creating a “two-tier system” where people who have received a vaccine have more freedoms than those who have not.
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