Gibraltarians cancel Christmas holidays abroad because of confusion on Vaccine Passports

by MARK VIALES
The holiday Christmas spirit could be significantly hampered once again this season as Gibraltar’s full inclusion into Europe’s controversial ‘free travel’ vaccine passport system remains cloudy.

Under the premise of ‘safe and free movement in the European Union’, a digitised vaccine passport created in response to the pandemic is required for travel around the Schengen area. Although the UK joined the EU Digital COVID-19 Certificate System on October 28, a growing number of locals travelling abroad have not had their Gibraltar documentation recognised.
A government worker issuing COVID Status Certificates told PANORAMA that Gibraltar’s system was not linked to the EU because of Brexit and the government’s vaccine card fails to include important information.
“The card only works in Gibraltar as it has no batch number, so it is not accepted anywhere else in the world,” said the government worker in response to PANORAMA questions. “I have no idea why it was not included on the card people received after the second dose. I think the government wanted something to prove locals had been vaccinated.”

MORE IN PANORAMA PRINT EDITION

09-12-21 PANORAMAdailyGIBRALTAR