UE’s Green Pass to Validate Europe-Approved Vaccines Only

Caribbean News Digital Newsroom

The proposed Green Pass or vaccination passport, which will be presented on March 17 in Brussels to help free movement within the European Union (EU), will only be valid with vaccines approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA).

According to an EU source consulted by Euronews, vaccines from non-approved companies will not be covered by the EU's liability and quality control clause.

The same source said EU Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders made it clear that member states were free to vaccinate their citizens with other products, but would not be assigned an authorized travel certificate unless their vaccine came from an approved company, of which there are currently four: Pfizer/BioNtech, AstraZeneca, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson.

Some countries, including some in the European Union, are turning to vaccines not approved by the European Medicines Agency EMA such as China's Sinovac and Russia's Sputnik V.

The Euronews article further explains that the duration of the digital green certificate should be limited to the end of the Covid-19 pandemic, and clarified that testing and quarantine will remain the elements allowing free circulation. In this way, vaccination does not become a precondition for free movement.

Reynders intends to accelerate the proposal in the European Parliament to become a "binding instrument" for all Member States before the summer.