Japan Eyes Issuing "Vaccine Passport" from Summer

Tokyo, June 7 (Jiji Press)--The Japanese government is considering issuing certificates from this summer to coronavirus vaccine recipients that would be necessary for them to travel overseas, government sources said Monday. With a growing number of countries checking visitors' inoculation records as a border control measure, the "vaccine passport" is expected to facilitate business travel, the sources said. Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato heads a preparation team comprising foreign and health ministry officials. The team considers specifying in the certificate the date of vaccination and the maker of a vaccine administered. The vaccine passport will initially be paper. But in the future it may be a smartphone app, the sources said. If the government decides to issue the certificate, it would then negotiate with other countries on whether Japanese nationals with the certificate would be exempt from quarantine after entry and on how Japan would treat visitors with similar certificates. Referring to concerns in some countries that issuing such a certificate would lead to discrimination against unvaccinated people, Kato said, "We will hold more discussions to respond well to moves overseas." END