March 25, 2021

Europe debates COVID vaccine diplomacy and Digital Green Certificates

topic:	Health and Sanitation
located:	Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina
editor:	Katarina Panić

“I do care about health at first place, of course. Yet, if the type of COVID-19 vaccine does matter, and if I have the opportunity to choose, I will rather go for the type with which I can travel. I usually go on vacation on the Adriatic Sea [or] Croatia, not to Russia or China,” a colleague of mine said to me a few days ago. Then he took his wife and their kids, went to Serbia to get the vaccine approved by the European Union. 

Here in Bosnia, only Russian-made jabs are currently available, while in Serbia, one may choose among Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Moderna, Sputnik and Sinopharm. So far, the EU approved the use of the BioNTech, Moderna, Oxford and Johnson-Johnson vaccines. Many believe it is only a matter of time before the Russian and Chinese producers will become acceptable for the EU too, since the East is obviously producing much faster than the West.

Last week, the European Commission proposed a Digital Green Certificate to facilitate safe free movement inside the EU during the pandemic. The card should be, as they said, accessible, non-discriminatory and secure for all EU citizens, and should contain only essential information.

The same day, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić said that the EU’s announcement of the Covid passports for those who received the vaccines approved in the EU only was a bad and scandalous decision that violates Europe’s highest principles. He added that he would hopefully not be criticised by the EU member states for his statement, since they cherish democracy and freedom of opinion.

“How are they going to ban the arrival of Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orban, who got China’s vaccine? Now they even made me take the Chinese vaccine after hearing this. Then if they don’t welcome me in Brussels, there will be no dialogue with Priština,” Vučić told the media, alluding to the EU-run negotiations between Serbia and its former south province Kosovo over the status of this territory.

Another colleague of mine, a passionate traveller, said she would take whatever needed to cross the borders again. “I swear I will get them all,” she laughs.

In addition to indicating one’s vaccination status, the Digital Green Certificate will prove that a person has received a negative test result or recovered from COVID-19. It is supposed to be a temporary measure until the World Health Organization declares the end of the coronavirus pandemic. 

Image: Brussels Morning. 

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