[David Icke]: The EU Digital Covid Certificate should make travelling in Europe easier and cheaper for British tourists. Joining it would also enable the Government to quickly launch a domestic vaccine passport system.
Last week, when outlining his autumn and winter plan, Boris Johnson said domestic vaccine passports could be used as part of a “plan B” should Covid start to stretch NHS capacity again.
The Telegraph has been told by the EU that integration of the UK’s vaccine database into the EU system is at an advanced stage.
“Significant progress was made on a technical front, namely when it comes to the connection to the gateway, with aim of going live [testing] soon,” said a spokesman for the European Commission.
The UK Foreign Office and Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) have joint responsibility for the project in the UK. They formally applied to join the EU scheme on July 28, and technical work has been carrying on behind the scenes ever since.