Vaccine passport app 'may not be ready' when foreign travel resumes

A Downing Street spokesperson said the app may not be ready by the 17th May

The NHS app may not be ready in time to carry international versions of the Covid-19 vaccine passport when foreign travel resumes, Downing Street has admitted.

Boris Johnson's official spokesperson indicated on Tuesday that officials were working on alternative solutions.

"Obviously we will be able to confirm ahead of the 17th [of May] at the earliest what measures are used for those initial countries that are available for travel, be it the app or another approach," the spokesperson said.

"There are other routes to achieving the same end goal. We are working on the app at the moment, at pace, to have it ready, and we will be able to confirm ahead of the 17th at the earliest what approaches we will be using."

Flights to international holiday destinations are expected to resume for people in England on 17th May.

Most European countries are expected to make it mandatory for British travellers to show a digital vaccination certificate when they reopen their borders.

Holiday-goers will need to present evidence they have been vaccinated, have antibodies to the virus, or have received a recent negative Covid-19 test.

The government's Global Travel Task Force is expected to announce a green list of holiday destinations later this week, with as few as 10 countries expected to be on it.

The list will be reviewed every three weeks, and new destinations may be added next month if their coronavirus rates drop.

Arrivals from green list destinations into England will not be required to quarantine.

An app-based defence

The NHS App is currently used to book GP appointments and order repeat prescriptions.

But Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said last week that the government was planning to use the app as a Covid passport medium, enabling people to show they have been vaccinated or tested before foreign travel.

"I'm working internationally with partners across the world to make sure that system can be internationally recognised," Shapps told Sky News.

Henk van Klaveren, head of public affairs at trade organisation The Airport Operators Association, told the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) that enabling the NHS app to demonstrate a user's vaccine status "should be a relatively simple technical step".

Premier League executive director Bill Bush told BBC Radio Four's Today programme last month that the League supports "some form of certification for their events," as the alternative would be restrictions in the form of social distancing and smaller number of viewers.

"The alternative [to certification] is not freedom. The alternative is social distancing, tiny crowds, major restrictions on people's movement and ability to eat, drink, travel. Away fans banned for example," Bush said.

"So to end those restrictions of freedom, we believe that something like this is an acceptable burden to give fans the freedom to attend."

Bush stressed that they "want fans back unrestricted as soon as possible, but only if it's safe."