WHO: COVID vaccination certificates should not be a condition for travel

SARAJEVO,(Patria) - The crisis staff of the World Health Organization (WHO) has issued a recommendation for 194 member states not to require proof of COVID vaccination as the sole condition for international travel, and has called on them to accept all coronavirus vaccines that the WHO has approved for emergency use.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus chaired the ninth meeting of the Crisis Staff, which was held in Geneva four days ago, and the recommendations of that body were published today with significant delay.

In a written statement, the WHO Crisis Staff states that the COVID-19 pandemic continues to threaten people's health worldwide and that a state of emergency requiring a coordinated international response is still in effect.

In its recommendations, the Crisis Staff asks the authorities of WHO member states not to require proof of COVID vaccination as the sole condition for international travel. The reason for this recommendation is limited access to vaccines and unfair distribution of vaccines.

In January, the WHO Crisis Staff also voted to recommend that mandatory COVID vaccination passports not be introduced for international travel.

The staff also called on member states to approve all anti-COVID vaccines for which the WHO has issued emergency use authorizations.

So far, the WHO has approved the use of coronavirus vaccines produced by Pfizer/BioNTech, Oxford-AstraZeneca, the Serum Institute of India (SII), South Korean AstraZeneca Bio, Moderna, Janssen, Sinopharm, and Sinovac, and approval for Covaxin vaccines, produced by the Indian company Bharat Biotech, is expected within the next 24 hours.