Vaccine passports in SA: Everything we know so far

Whether you like the idea or not, vaccine passports are coming soon to South Africa. Think of it this way…
If you’ve been vaccinated, you would have received a little vaccine certificate with your vaccine number on it.
Government is now rolling out those same vaccine certificates, just in a digital manner.

Vaccine passports: Why is SA set to join other countries?

“The sports fans among us cannot wait to return to FNB, to Moses Mabhida, to Royal Bafokeng, to Newlands, and to Loftus to cheer on our teams.

We want to socialise freely again at restaurants, taverns and theatres, and we want to travel freely whenever and wherever we choose. These freedoms, which we all long for, are within our reach. But we will only be able to get there if we are all vaccinated…”

President Cyril Ramaphosa

Speaking during his last family meeting on Thursday, President Cyril Ramaphosa once again put focus on government’s target to vaccinate 70% of all adults by the end of December. Right now, it simply doesn’t look like that’s going to happen. We’re now in October and only around 22% of adults are now fully vaccinated. That’s just under 9 million South Africans.

At that same family meeting, Ramaphosa, referring to them as “vaccine certificates”, explained that the digital documents will be key in having SA lifted from many international travel restrictions. This will of course be a huge boost for our tourism sector.

READ – UK red list: ‘Positive outcome’ expected soon, says Ramaphosa

Vaccine certificates: Will they be key for moving around SA?

But while the vaccine passports are being drawn up to comply with the World Health Organization’s international guidelines, they could be key for entertainment purposes here at home.

“The Department of Health should be rolling out a vaccination certificate which will provide a secure and a verifiable proof of vaccination.Which can be used to facilitate travel to access establishments and gatherings and other forms of activity that require proof of vaccination,” Ramaphosa said.

Last month, the Health Department promised that some people will receive their vaccine certificates before the end of next week.

So how could vaccine passports have a say on our daily life in SA?
Things like live sport events in stadiums for the vaccinated only, are set to be tested soon. The vaccine certificates are set to have a QR code, which will allow them to be scanned from your phone before you enter a venue.

Theoretically, this means that certain venues will be able to choose to only accept those with these certificates/passports.