Vaccine passport complications could derail tourism rebound in Asia

This photo taken on April 9, 2018 shows a crowd of tourists on the Maya Bay beach, on the southern Thai island of Koh Phi Phi. Across the region, Southeast Asia's once-pristine beaches are reeling from decades of unchecked tourism as governments scramble to confront trash-filled waters and environmental degradation without puncturing a key economic driver. / AFP PHOTO / Lillian SUWANRUMPHA / TO GO WITH AFP STORY "THAILAND-INDONESIA-PHILIPPINES-TOURISM-ENVIRONMENT" by Lillian SUWANRUMPHA with Joe FREEMAN (Photo credit should read LILLIAN SUWANRUMPHA/AFP/Getty Images)

by RAHIMI YUNUS/ file pic by AFP

Issues surrounding vaccine passport on ethics, efficacy and geopolitical tensions could hamper the turnaround of the tourism sector that is expected from the scheme.

Assistant director and economist at Moody’s Analytics, Xiao Chun Xu said at first glance, a vaccine passport bypasses the need to wait for herd immunity in the visitors’ home countries but the situation is more complex.

Despite immunity to the symptoms, however, he said inoculated visitors are still capable of contracting Covid-19 and passing the disease to other people during their trip or carrying it back home.

He added that at the very least, visitors will need to be tested for Covid-19 antigens upon their arrival in the host country.

Besides that, Xiao said an easily accessible digital transcript of the population’s Covid-19 health records raises concerns about data security and confidentiality, in addition to uncertainty regarding verification and authentication.

“Even though a vaccine passport could encourage take-up of the vaccine, there are ethical concerns that it could lead to citizens being barred from social activities such as eating in restaurants or accessing gyms and swimming pools.

“Social inequality and limited access to vaccines, especially in developing Asia, could dissuade the wide use of vaccine passports,” Xiao said in a report by Moody’s Analytics.

He also said early discussions regarding vaccine passports are causing geopolitical tensions along with many other aspects of the pandemic.
For instance, he said the European Union proposed that only those inoculated with vaccines approved by the European Medicines Agency can receive a digital green pass.

This means that Chinese vaccines exported to EU member states such as Hungary and the Czech Republic will not qualify.

Xiao said vaccination in Asia has been relatively slow, and so herd immunity will be achieved later than in the US and Europe.

He further said China has run into many supply issues that have caused it to fall behind in vaccine distribution compared with its economic rivals.

“We, therefore, expect it to reach herd immunity relatively late, enhancing the need for a vaccine passport,” Xiao added.