How to prove you've received the vaccine and can travel

With with many countries in full swing of  COVID-19 vaccinations, how are airlines and governments planning to require vaccination to fly or even to get on the plane?   What about digital health passports, proofs of vaccine or negative tests, and digital travel pass apps like AOKpass, Common Pass and the IATA Travel Pass?  Aviation journalist John Walton explains what we now know.

If you’re feeling the light at the end of the COVID tunnel with vaccines from Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, and other vaccine manufacturers, you’re not alone. Millions of people have already been vaccinated against this terrible disease, and if you — like me — are longing to see friends and loved ones, or to experience our shared world once more, it’s a massive comfort.

When you get vaccinated — and, barring any medical reason you should probably discuss with your doctor, you should — it’s important to know that some airlines and governments are likely to require proof. And since there’s no one common system, that may mean you need to take the initiative and be prepared for some thoroughly unglamorous paperwork.

Some governments will require passengers to be vaccinated as a condition to entry. ©Chesnot/Getty Images

As a rule, you may be asked to provide either proof of vaccination or proof of negative test by your airline, either on behalf of itself or for governments responsible for where you’re travelling from, to or through. If the vaccine is not recommended for you for a valid reason — age or pregnancy status, for example — you’ll want to take advice from your prospective airline and the relevant authorities ASAP, because you may not be able to fly for a while.

There’s no one single airline system that manages the various vaccination and testing requirements. They’re likely to get even more complicated as newer vaccines and variants emerge, but in the meantime it will really depend where you’re travelling and how you’re getting there.

Is there an app for COVID-19 vaccine proof?  

Various private systems are in trial mode, including IATA’s Travel Pass, Common Pass from the World Economic Forum, and AOKpass from the International Chamber of Commerce. Some countries are also creating their own, and it wouldn’t be at all surprising if mobile giants like Apple and Google get in on the act too. Some of them can be included as part of your airline’s app, and some are separate.

These work in a variety of ways, but they’re mainly around input, processing and output of your documents proving either your test status or vaccination information. On the input side, it could be automatically linked in with private testing companies, QR-code based, or mean you need to take and send a picture of your document.

Street graffiti of Prince Harry,  Los Angeles, California. ©Robyn Beck / AFP via Getty Images

For processing, airlines and governments know that this needs to be done well before you even get to the airport, at least for almost everyone on the plane. I’ve heard of airlines needing 100% of their check-in staff to manage 5% of the flights when hand-checking of testing data alone was needed, and that’s just not going to work when people are travelling in numbers again.

On the output side, the ideal is that your app automatically tells the airline system whether or not the document you sent them means that you’re okay to fly. It may, however, need help from a datacenter of real humans, some AI analysis, or most likely a combination of all three. There’s likely to be some kind of “get a human to review this” if necessary, so be sure you keep all your paperwork!

On the testing side, most airlines are now up to speed on what they need, and are stating this clearly. On the vaccination side, it’s not so clear, and both the science and policies are changing rapidly, so keep up to date.

Keep proof of your vaccination if you want to fly. ©izusek/Getty Images

Regardless, it may well be that some governments will require passengers to be vaccinated as a condition to entry, or to avoid their two-week quarantine hotel systems. You can probably expect that to be the case where authorities have done a good job in limiting or even eradicating local transmission of COVID-19, including Australia, China, Hong Kong, Iceland, New Zealand, South Korea, Taiwan, but also elsewhere. My guess would be that you’ll have to scan or photograph and then send them the proof of your vaccination — so make sure you get and keep proof — or indeed vaccinations.

When you’re vaccinated, your vaccine certificate should state your name, the date of your vaccination (or vaccinations — if you get a two-jab vaccine, make sure you particularly keep track of the second piece of paperwork), the medical professional who administered it, the vaccine administered, the lot number of the vaccine, and the location of the administration centre.

Scan or photograph proof of vaccination so you have it at all times when traveling. ©Matthias Rietschel/Getty Images

To be honest, if you live somewhere where English isn’t the language of paperwork from your healthcare system, it might be worth creating an English translation printout for your doctor or other medical professional to stamp and sign. Something like, with your local language on top, a large space for the doctor to stamp and sign in the middle, and then in English:

I, [blank for doctor’s name], registration number [blank for registration number] confirm that I administered the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus vaccine type [leave blank for the name of the vaccine] to protect against COVID-19 to [your name] on [leave an especially large blank for two potential dates] at the immunisation centre in [leave blank for town name]. It is my considered medical opinion that [your name] is now fully vaccinated against COVID-19 according to the [name of your country] system.

Depending on how your vaccine is packaged, you may well be able to take the box home with you. I’d certainly do that if possible, because that will also give you some proof of which of the vaccines you were administered. It may feel like a bit (or even a lot) of paperwork hassle — but, truly, wouldn’t we all do whatever paperwork is necessary to be able to travel again?