In this week's episode we look at the growing discussion around digital health or vaccine passports and whether they are a solution to reopen locked international borders.
This week's podcast is hosted by BTN Europe digital editor Mark Frary along with Nike’s Daniel Tallos, David Bishop of Gray Dawes Group, William Sandover a former chair of the GBTA (Europe) Risk Committee and previously an International Risk Adviser to British Airways, and Simon Talling-Smith, president of CommonPass.
We hear how we need standardisation but it is highly unlikely that we will consolidate to a single solution, just as we use different payment methods such as Mastercard, Visa , Google Pay and Apple Pay but use a single terminal.
One of the concerns is that a solution needs to be scalable when the travel industry gets back to larger volumes of travellers and that trust and security of health data are paramount.
Venues and commercial organisations may stop short of requiring vaccination because of the negative publicity but they may offer fast track entry for those who do. However, countries may well say if you are not vaccinated you are not coming in.
We discuss how we will need a multi-layered approach involving both health passports and testing and the pros and cons of centralised systems versus those that just sit on your phone.
When will all this happen? The optimists are saying September this year but it may be many years before we have a fully global interconnected system for digital health passports.
Listen to find out more.