World Leaders Agree To Implement Vaccine Passports

Nov 17, 2022

WASHINGTON, DC – The leaders from 20 countries at the recent G20 Summit signed a declaration which states they agree to adopt vaccine passports to “facilitate” all international travel. 

The current membership of the G20 accounts for more than 66 percent of the world’s population and includes Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Japan, India, Indonesia, Italy, Mexico, Russia, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, and European Union. 

The two-day summit concluded in Bali, Indonesia yesterday and consisted of talks between the G20 member countries. Klaus Schwab, World Economic Forum (WEF) Chair, also attended. 

The G20 Bali Leaders’ Declaration, signed by leaders from all the countries,  included a section (s.23) on “facilitating seamless international travel.” It acknowledged the importance of shared technical standards and verification methods which includes vaccine passports. It also includes the leaders “support continued international dialogue and collaboration on the establishment of trusted global digital health networks that should capitalize and build on the success of the existing standard and digital COVID-19 certificates.” 

The declaration states, “We recognize the need for strengthening local and regional health product manufacturing capacities and cooperation as well as sustainable global and regional research and development networks to facilitate better access to VTDs globally, especially in developing countries, and underscore the importance of public-private partnership, and technology transfer and knowledge sharing on voluntary and mutually agreed terms. We support the WHO mRNA Vaccine Technology Transfer hub as well as all as the spokes in all regions of the world with the objective of sharing technology and technical know-how on voluntary and mutually agreed terms. We welcome joint research and joint production of vaccines, including enhanced cooperation among developing countries. We acknowledge the importance of shared technical standards and verification methods, under the framework of the IHR (2005), to facilitate seamless international travel, interoperability, and recognizing digital solutions and non-digital solutions, including proof of vaccinations. We support continued international dialogue and collaboration on the establishment of trusted global digital health networks as part of the efforts to strengthen prevention and response to future pandemics, that should capitalize and build on the success of the existing standards and digital COVID-19 certificates.”

In a separate document, the G20 issued an update that includes: “Endeavour to move towards interoperability of systems including mechanisms that validate proof of vaccination, whilst respecting the sovereignty of national health policies, and relevant national regulations such as personal data protection and data-sharing.” 

The G20’s support for digital health certificates that include vaccine passports follows recommendations coming out of the recent B20 Summit where Indonesia’s Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin said that G20 countries should adopt a “digital health certificate using WHO standards” and that they were looking to introduce this type of vaccine passport into the “international health regulations” during the next World Health Assembly in Geneva. 

“Let’s have a digital health certificate acknowledged by WHO — if you have been vaccinated or tested properly — then you can move around,” said Sadikin. 

In August, 2021, the World Health Organization (WHO) published a 99-page guidebook on the implementation of digital documentation of COVID-19 certificates, known as vaccine passports, stating that “a health pass based solely on individual vaccination status may increase the risk of disease spread.” 

Vaccine passports can be paper or a digital code or app that records and displays the user’s health information, including COVID-19 vaccination status. Digital health or vaccine passports display a scannable code similar to an airline boarding pass. Tracking and tracing apps monitor the user’s movement and interactions with other people. The app will issue a warning if the user moves outside of the quarantine zone. 

Dr. Naomi Wolf, an author and Rhodes Scholar, predicted that the vaccine passport would eventually track every aspect of people’s lives and would violate the U.S. Constitution, the Americans With Disabilities Act, and HIPAA. 

Dr. Wolf said, “I cannot say this forcefully enough: This is literally the end of human liberty in the West if this plan unfolds as planned…Vaccine passports sound like a fine thing if you don’t know what those platforms can do. I’m CEO of a tech company, I understand what this platform does. It’s not about the vaccine, it’s not about the virus, it’s about data. And once this rolls out you don’t have a choice about being part of the system. What people have to understand is that any other functionality can be loaded onto that platform with no problem at all.” 

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Technology Review states, “This new social order will seem unthinkable to most people in so-called free countries. But any change can quickly become normal if people accept it. The new normal will be that we are used to the idea that in some cases being able to move around freely is dependent on us being able to show that we're healthy. There will be a greater acceptance, I think, of that kind of public health monitoring.” 

Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said, “Digital health or vaccine passports along with tracking and tracing apps present a serious threat to freedom. Vaccine passports and tracking apps are about collecting data and control. The vaccine passport is being promoted worldwide to limit a person’s ability to leave home, work, shop, dine, travel, attend a public event, or even worship. COVID is being used to advance this dangerous threat to freedom. We must never accept vaccine passports or tracking apps as the new normal. The implications for freedom are significant.” 

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