NHS app to be used as vaccine passport for travel, says Shapps
Brits will use the existing NHS Covid-19 app to show their vaccine status if they wish to travel abroad, transport secretary Grant Shapps has confirmed this morning.
The app will be retooled to function as a vaccine passport, Shapps said, or to show a negative test result.
“It will be the NHS app that is used for people when they book appointments with the NHS … to be able to show that you’ve had a vaccine or that you’ve had testing, and I’m working internationally with partners across the world, to make sure that that system can be internationally recognised,” he said.
Next week Shapps will meet the transport ministers of the rest of the G7 economies to discuss the plan in detail, he told Sky News.
International leisure travel for Brits is due to start from 17 May, although the government has in the past indicated that the date could be pushed back.
Holidaymakers are eagerly awaiting details as to which countries will come under what classification in a new “traffic light” system.
Shapps said that details of the system would be released at the beginning of May.
“The data does continue to look good from a UK perspective notwithstanding those concerns about where people might be travelling to and making sure that we’re protected from the disease being re-imported,” he added.