Public prefer Covid jab certificate for travel

New Delhi Amid a raging second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, a large number of Indians support requiring vaccine certificates for international travel as well as everyday activities such as accessing shops, restaurants and offices, a new survey showed on Thursday. Globally too, the survey showed that the public widely supports requiring vaccine certificates for international travel and accessing large venues. However, support is divided when it comes to measures around daily life, according to the World Economic Forum (WEF)/Ipsos survey conducted online across 28 countries among more than 21,000 adults between March 26 and April 9.

The survey found that three in four people support Covid-19 vaccine certificates for travellers entering their country, while two in three think these certificates would also be effective in making large events safe and expect they will be widely used. "Most public opinions in high- and middle-income countries are looking at vaccination certificates as indispensable tools for travel to resume and large public venues to reopen," said Arnaud Bernaert, Head of Health and Healthcare at Geneva-based WEF, which describes itself as an international organisation for public-private cooperation. Some 78 per cent agree that travellers entering their country should be required to have a vaccine certificate; a majority agree in each of the 28 countries surveyed from 92 per cent in Malaysia and 90 per cent in Peru to 52 per cent in Hungary and 58 per cent in Poland. Among Indian respondents, 84 per cent agreed that all travellers entering their country should be required to have a vaccine passport. Globally, the support level drops when it comes to accessing parts of daily life only recently re-opening.