b'HEALTH PASSPORT CLEAN BILL OF HEALTHGlobal travellers might one day need avaccine passporta look to the futureBy Andrew BrooksI nternational travel has been severelyAnother example is CommonPass, a jointMurtaza Khan, Fragomen partner based in impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.initiative of The Commons Project, theDubai, agrees. Broader coordination on As national governments seek to ensureWorld Economic Forum and other privatea global level is likely to face a lot of chal-their populations are not threatened byand public-sector partners. CommonPasslenges as the technology is a first step that possibly infected people arriving fromgives individuals access to their lab resultsallows individual travellers to access all of other countries, their responses and attitudesand vaccination records and lets themthe health-related information and require-vary, often drastically.consent to having that information usedments associated with each countrys to validate their COVID status withoutentry/exit conditions, he says. In this context, one idea that has beenrevealing any other underlying personal floated as a way to maintain essentialhealth information. CommonPass allowsFor Khan, the challenge is a compound one: air travel is a global health passport thatinformation to be accessed throughhow to establish standards across multiple would contain a travellers health infor- existing health data systems, national ornations and regions, enable recognition of mationincluding COVID-19 test andlocal registries, or personal digital healththe authenticity of medical reports, and then vaccination data. That information wouldrecords such as Apple Health (on iOS) orharmonize actual underlying requirements, be accessed quickly and easily at points ofCommonHealth (on Android).such as types of tests and their timings48 departure and arrival, while maintainingversus 72 versus 96 hours before travelthe security and privacy of the holdersUNCERTAIN FUTURE as well as recognized clinics, quarantine personal information.At this stage, a lot of work remains to berequirements and so on.The Canadian government has made itsdone and its still unclear whether theMichnay says relocation professionals view clear: it has rejected developing aglobal health passport will ultimately consistshould keep an eye on the technologies Canadian variant of a vaccine passport,of a single platform adopted worldwide orbeing developed, and on the requirements citing its possible divisive impact. Primewill be more a matter of linking disparateconstantly being put in place and then Minister Justin Trudeau said there is nosolutions and travel data platforms adoptedupdated by national governments. Watch plan to develop such a passport at thein different nations and regions. This wouldthe advances that are being made. Anything federal level for Canadians.include those already in existence in addi- that helps remove unknowns and gets infor-tion to those under development.mation outthe way the IATA app tells Globally, however, the idea is gainingyou what you need, the latest info, what ground. One such initiative is the TravelI would place one global system in theyou need to flyis hugely helpful. Pass launched by the International Airunlikely category, says Sharon Michnay, Transport Association (IATA). This digitalpresident of Relo Network Asia (USA).Khan takes the same view. Monitor health pass incorporates: More likely is a system thats defined by athe development of the applications and country or group of countrieslike the EUtheir adoption by government authorities, a global registry of national health require- or ASEANand is similar to vaccinationairlines, etc., he says. The profession ments and testing/vaccination centres; requirements now. But initially, there areshould seek to promote this change anda LabApp that enables testing centreslikely to be bilateral agreements that incor- the adoption of this technology. With porate a health code system between coun- widespread usage, it will ultimately and labs to share test and vaccinationtries that have substantial economic ties. support the normalization of travel.certificates with travellers; andacontactless travel app that lets passengers create their own digital passport, receive test and vaccination certificates, and shareHAVE YOUR SAYthese with airlines as they travel.What do you think of the idea of a vaccine passport?At press time, IATA was promising aWould you give it a thumbs up, or a thumbs down, and why?global rollout of Travel Pass on theCERC would like to know its members views on this. You can email us withAndroid and iPhone platforms in the firstyour response at perspectives@cerc.ca. Please include Vaccine Passportquarter of the year. Two major airlinesEtihad and Emirateshave alreadyin the subject line.adopted or trialled the platform.Spring 2021PERSPECTIVES13'