The United States has cited citizens’ privacy and rights in ruling out mandatory Covid-19 vaccination passports.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said there would be no ‘federal vaccinations database’ or a ‘federal mandate requiring everyone to obtain a single vaccination credential’.
Psaki added: ‘The government is not now, nor will be, supporting a system that requires Americans to carry a credential. Our interest is very simple from the federal government, which is Americans’ privacy and rights should be protected, and so that these systems are not used against people unfairly.’
According to the BBC, schemes to introduce such passports have been touted around the world as a way to enable safe circulation of people while fighting the pandemic.
Critics have warned that such documents could be discriminatory.
The US has reported more than 550 000 deaths linked to the virus and nearly 31 million cases, the highest numbers in the world, according to Johns Hopkins University.