T-Mobile parent Deutsche Telekom has submitted a bid to create a digital vaccination passport for the EU.
One of the biggest challenges countries face is managing travel during the pandemic. International travel helped the coronavirus spread at a record pace in the early days of the pandemic, and continues to be a major threat to containment efforts.
Some countries have made vaccination a requirement to cross their borders, but there is currently no good way to keep track of who has been vaccinated. The issue is especially a concern for the EU, where individuals are normally able to cross member state borders at will.
Deutsche Telekom is hoping to help address the problem, submitting a bid to the German government to create a digital vaccination passport. A vaccination passport would serve as proof the holder was vaccinated, and therefore relatively safe to travel.
If the EU’s efforts are successful, it’s a safe bet other countries will follow suit, implementing their own methods for keeping track of those vaccinated.