British officials have started work on a “vaccine passport” as Greece prepares to waive quarantine rules for tourists who can prove that they have been inoculated against coronavirus.
A certification system is being planned, The Times has learnt. The Foreign Office, the Department for Transport and the Department of Health and Social Care are working on options for travellers to countries that may demand it as a condition of entry.
Early data suggesting that the jabs reduce transmission as well as prevent serious disease and death has revived the debate over whether individuals who have been vaccinated should have more freedom.
The benefits of Covid vaccination also continue to far outweigh the risks, regulators said this morning as they released the first data on reported side-effects.
The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency said it had received 22,820 reports of adverse events after 5.4 million doses of the Pfizer-Biontech vaccine and 1.5 million of the Oxford-Astrazeneca vaccine had been given.
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These were mostly mild effects such as pain in the arm where the jab was given, or cold-like symptoms such as a headache, chills or mild fever, agency experts said. The reporting rate was about three per 1,000 doses administered.
It also revealed 143 reports of deaths shortly after vaccination, but said: “The majority of these reports were in elderly people or people with underlying illness. Review of individual reports and patterns of reporting does not suggest the vaccine played a role in the death.”
British tourists may be welcomed to Greece in May provided they can provide proof of inoculation against the coronavirus, tourism officials said.
Government officials have told the Greek Ministry of Tourism that Britain’s vaccination process is so advanced that British holidaymakers will save their lucrative summer season. About two million Britons visit Greece every year, second only to the Germans, spending more than €10 billion. Tourism was responsible for a fifth of the country’s GDP in 2019.
It came as the European Union revised its plans on reopening its borders to citizens of non-member countries. New guidelines said that bans on “non-essential” visitors to the bloc should be lifted only when a country has had no more than 25 new Covid-19 cases per 100,000 population in the previous 14 days.
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The Greek government is concerned about the efficacy of vaccines such as the Russian Sputnik jab, which has just completed phase 3 trials and has been bought by countries such as Hungary.
However, it is believed that Greece is confident that visitors who have received both doses of the Pfizer-Biontech vaccine or the Oxford-Astrazeneca vaccine, both of which are being administered by the UK, will be safe to visit Greece.
The officials are discussing what form of proof Britons will need to show that they have been vaccinated. Holidaymakers will also need to provide a negative test taken less than 72 hours before their arrival in Greece.
The Greek government has scrapped measures introduced last summer under which residents from countries with low coronavirus infection rates were able to enter the country.
It is understood that the Greek government is highly sceptical about whether German tourists or wealthy Russians will be able to visit the country for a summer break because both countries are so far behind with their vaccination programmes.
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Grigoris Tasios, president of the country’s hoteliers federation, said: “Greece has long been a favourite holiday destination for the British, and with the rate of inoculations in the UK largely outpacing all others across Europe and beyond, British travellers will be among the safest to travel here by as early as May.”
Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the Greek prime minister, is preparing to launch a severe lockdown to save the country’s summer tourist season after a dramatic rise in the daily domestic infection rate.
The Greek economy has been badly hit by successive European lockdowns and the country is desperate to attract as many tourists as possible this summer to recoup overseas revenue.
Israeli citizens and Americans are also expected to be permitted to enter Greece for a holiday this summer.
Israel has managed to inoculate a quarter of its population of 11 million. US health officials announced this week that more Americans had received at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine than had tested positive for the virus. “These are all promising signs,” Tasios told The Times. “But we still have a way to go.”
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Global tourism has been among the industries hardest hit by the pandemic with the virus bringing the travel industry to a standstill.
A recent report by Ernst and Young, the global consultancy group, showed that the Greek economy shrank by an additional 10 per cent last year because of an 80 per cent slide in tourism revenue. It forecast a 50 per cent rise this year.
Hotels, restaurants and resorts are eager to cash in on a resurgence of British tourists who are expected to redeem vouchers for holiday packages cancelled last summer.
“Not opening is not an option this year,” Alexis Komninos, a hotelier on the island of Santorini, said. “The chips are down and it’s clearly crunch time. While I and others in the industry are doing our part, doling out the cold cash to refurbish, rebuild and slash my prices by 40 per cent to lure British and other customers, the government must do its part in helping to subsidise this national re-opening.
“This isn’t about some sort of business experiment. It is a national gambit. And if this season is lost, well, then we’re all in for a really rough ride.”
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Tourism ministry officials said that the government would subsidise salaries in the industry this summer, but that it has yet to decide when and whether incentives would be introduced to cover hotel reopening costs.