Germany rolls out vaccine passport: more than 22 million people receive digital certificate

CovPass app is intended to be a travel certificate within the EU

German Health Minister Jens Spahn displays the CovPass app during a press conference in Berlin. Getty Images 

More than 22 million people have acquired digital vaccine passports in Germany in the first 10 days after the plan was launched.

The CovPass app allows Germans to use their smartphones to show that they have been vaccinated against Covid-19.

The German government expects that it will serve as a vaccine passport to allow people to travel elsewhere in the EU.

About 26 million people have been fully vaccinated in Germany, accounting for 31 per cent of its population. A little over half have received at least one dose.

Announcing the uptake for the CovPass app, Health Minister Jens Spahn said the tempo of Germany’s vaccination programme remained high.

Last week was the first in which more than a million vaccines were administered on three separate days, Mr Spahn said.

Two doses are seen as essential to withstand the threat of the Delta variant of Covid-19, which is gaining ground in Germany after spreading rapidly in Britain.

The head of Germany’s RKI public health institute said that the variant was likely to become dominant in the country.

“It is really not a question of whether Delta becomes the leading variant, but only when,” Lothar Wieler said.

Germany has lifted most restrictions on public life since the third wave subsided and cases dropped.

Only 346 new cases and 10 deaths were announced by the RKI in its latest update on Monday morning.

However, some tourist destinations such as hotels and museums are requiring proof of vaccination or a negative test result for admission.

Pass expected to open up travel 

To set up the CovPass app, vaccinated people are given hard-copy certificates with a QR code that they can scan with their mobile phones.

Venues and event organisers can download a separate app which allows them to scan other people’s vaccine passports.

When someone shows their digital pass, the CovPassCheck app will bring up their full name, date of birth and vaccination status.

The app is not compulsory and people can still show their hard-copy certificates if they prefer.

German researchers published findings last month that fake vaccine passports were on sale on messaging app Telegram for up to $240.

Berlin sees the app as the German version of the EU’s digital Covid certificate, which is meant to reopen travel across the bloc.

Bulgaria, Denmark, Greece and Poland are among the other EU countries to have issued their own versions of the certificate.

Brussels expects that all 27 EU countries will launch their versions by the start of July.

EU members are required to accept vaccines that have been approved by the European Medicines Agency, which are the Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca shots.

Individual countries may choose to accept other vaccines such as Russia’s Sputnik V or China’s Sinopharm.

It is also for each EU country to decide whether to accept one dose of a vaccine as sufficient proof of immunity.