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5 August, 2021

Government eyes October roll-out of vaccine certificates for international (and possibly domestic) travel

Digital vaccine passport app in mobile phone for travel during Covid-19 pandemic. The mobile phone, passport, protective face mask, hat and sunglasses are on a suitcase.

By Travel Weekly

More details around the federal government’s plan for the resumption of international travel have emerged, with vaccine certificates set to be rolled out in the next couple of months.

Under the plan submitted to the government’s expenditure review committee last week, international vaccine certificates would be available for Australians to attain via the MyGov website by October, according to The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.

Aussies would be able to access their vaccine certificate, which would essentially be a QR code, by either downloading it on their electronic device or printing it out on paper.

The Nine-owned mastheads reported that the vaccine certificates are being developed by Services Australia and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and will use a ‘Visible Digital Seal’, which is backed by the International Civil Aviation Organisation.

This technology will be linked to a ‘Digital Passenger Declaration’ developed by the Department of Home Affairs to collect the relevant health information of travellers, but how this all comes together is still being worked out by the government.

SMH and The Age reported that the government’s multi-million-dollar plan to reopen borders and recommence quarantine-free international travel could also see the vaccine certificates used domestically.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison is pushing for it to be extended to domestic travel in the hope that it will speed up the National Cabinet’s four-step reopening plan. However, a number of conservative MPs are reportedly not so keen.

According to the Nine-owned news outlets, the vaccine certificates are a key part of the government’s negotiations with other countries on the establishment of travel bubbles.

However, ScoMo and his team are yet to decide whether certificates for vaccines other than those approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration will be allowed.

Featured image source: iStock/Onfokus

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Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Department of Home Affairs Digital Passenger Declaration domestic travel federal government International Civil Aviation Organisation international travel prime minister QR code scott morrison Services Australia vaccine certificates Visible Digital Seal