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NewsAre we there yet? Covid Certificates
Are we there yet? Covid Certificates

Are we there yet? Covid Certificates

Last updated by Oliver Tattan on

On July 1st, the European Union launched the EU Digital COVID Certificate to re-open travel within the EU. All member states participated, even those states with high vaccine hesitancy rates like Romania, who have just sold us 1 million surplus vaccines. All 27 member States that is, except Ireland. We are delaying our launch until July 19. Ryanair has called on the Government to explain why Ireland is “Paddy Last” to issue Digital COVID Certificates.

Any EU citizen can get a Certificate if they have either had Covid, had a negative PCR test or have been fully vaccinated. With the Certificate - which will appear as a QR code on your smartphone - holders will be free to travel around the EU without having to quarantine, isolate or restrict their movements. The fact that we are not included means we have to continue to put any holiday or travel plans on hold, but also means that we cannot properly welcome European tourists or business travellers to Ireland.

China has used a type of Digital Covid certificate since the beginning of the pandemic. A QR code on a Chinese citizen’s phone indicated if they were covid free and was scanned to allow access to the workplace, public transport and public buildings. This has allowed Chinese citizens a lot of freedoms to go about their business and avoid the more indiscriminate blanket lockdowns we experienced in Ireland.

On the other hand, the US has not implemented any type of national certificate or passport based on covid status, preferring to just vaccinate as many people as possible and allowing the hesitant the same freedoms as the vaccinated. However, US citizens travelling abroad are still being asked to prove they have been vaccinated, but it is potentially more difficult to safely and privately prove their vaccination status without an official Government Certificate.

The UK, has of course made up it’s own “world beating” system. The UK National Health Service is offering English citizens who still want to travel a PDF as proof of vaccination - in the event that the associated barcode may not be readable at the travel destination.

What do you think? Are Covid Certificates intrusive or freedom enhancing? Are they a sign of reduced civil liberties or efficient law and order? How will you use yours? Share your thoughts below:

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Someone
Someone from D commented:

I’d be very happy to have a Covid alert. I would feel much less stressed traveling knowing everyone around me on the plane had one too. Bring them on. 

Tom
Tom from LK commented:

It's a complete infringement on our freedom of movement.So much for the Schengen agreement. 

Bernadette
Bernadette from D commented:

Covid payments, where is the money coming from? Developers buying our property, who are they? Where are the hospital lines? Wake up people. I smell a rat. Soon all our liberty will be gone. 

Bernadette
Bernadette from D commented:

Covid Certificates are freedom enhancing, can't understand why some people don't get the fact Covid is a GLOBAL pandemic. 

Someone
Someone from WD commented:

"This has allowed Chinese citizens a lot of freedoms to go about their business and avoid the more indiscriminate blanket lockdowns we experienced in Ireland." Quoting China as a world leader allowing it citizens a lot of freedoms is a bit ritch? Remember the China Communist Party has unleashed this Virus on the world and are still denying it,s source, As for the so called Vacine which has been approved under Emergency use authorisation which means it did require to be fully tested and approved safe before distribution. Ie Phase 111, (does it protect against the disease) this phase should take 2-4 years of collecting data ,it lasted just a few months. In fact, mandated vaccines are in direct opposition to informed consent, the number one tenet of the Nuremberg Code: “The voluntary consent of the human subject is absolutely essential… mRNA technology type vaccines has been out since early 2000.It is worth noting that non of them have ever been approved by the FDA due to safety issues? Meanwhile, the U.S. Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS) has logged more deaths following COVID-19 vaccination than all available vaccines combined over a 15.5-year period. Normally with this outcome the vaccine would have been withdrawn from use. I am glad to see most comments on this blog suggest we are realising that they may be something sinister to this whole affair, to those that have not realised this please wake up, do not depend on MSM for your information as these are just propaganda. 

Anthony
Anthony from C commented:

Whatever happened to "My body, my choice!", the war cry heard constantly during the push to slaughter thousands of innocent Irish citizens in the womb of their mothers That does not seem to apply when people are being coerced into taking an experimental vaccine which has already resulted in deaths. (check NHS report) WHY..... 

Someone
Someone from C commented:

Being told we have to have permission via a certificate to prove our vaccine status is very obviously an attack on privacy and our inalienable rights to travel freely. All anyone needs to know is are you symptomatic and sick or not (which any human being can confirm). Asymptomatic transmission has never been proven and never been an issue for any coronavirus or other virus. Also the vaccine doesnt prevent infection or death from the virus so its nonsense to suggest that a vaccine cert proves anything. In fact its irresponsible since vaccinated and infected will be travelling now thanks to this. 

Michael
Michael from CE commented:

The national pandemic health protection response has been undermined at every turn by misinformation and disinformation from self styled “libertarians,” “lockdown sceptics,” “truth seekers,” covid deniers, conspiracy theorists, and professional attention seekers. These activists constantly ask “why are we doing this?” and have repeatedly tried to argue that the pandemic and response have been a con. They assert, promote, and repeat mistruths as gospel. They quote a handful of rogue scientific non qualified experts (always check the credentials of so called 'experts') They say" this no worse than a normal flu season", "Hospitals are under no more pressure than usual" “Covid-19 kills only older people or those with pre-existing conditions, who were likely to die anyway.” "Social restrictions, lockdowns and vaccine passports are an infringement of civil liberties". They ignore the infection numbers and excess deaths plus hospitals being so overcrowded with Covid patients that they have to postpone elective procedures and operations. They ignore the high levels of hospital staff sickness and deaths before the vaccine rollout. But as the evidence has mounted, their precarious Jenga tower of false beliefs collapsed. However they stick with the diatribe despit the 3rd wave of Covid infections being upon us. I think their beliefs are now going to be put to the ultimate test. The UK is embarking on a big experiment by eliminating all social restrictions. The UK government obviously believe that most that want to be are Covid vaccinated and the Covid deniers and anti-vaxxers will be quite happy to get infected with this 'normal' virus. Herd immunity seems to be the UK policy. 'Herd immunity' occurs when a large portion of the population (the herd) becomes immune to the disease, eliminating the spread of the disease. This protects the whole community even those susceptible to infection. It is likely there will be lots of infections and deaths before Herd immunity is achieved 

Someone
Someone from WX replied to Michael:

with respect, that is the type of ill informed opinion that drives this discrimination. It is full of inacurrate statements and accusations that is typical of 'if they don't agree with us, then they are conspiracy theorists'! Strangely enough, many of the co-called 'conspiracy theories' have proven to be recently true! You need to actually check out the highly qualified professionals worldwide and their excellent credentials instead of rubbishing them. They are not 'rogue scientific non-qualified experts' at all, unless you are referring to people that I am unaware of! The infection numbers are also based upon PCR tests that are set at cycles way above their intended use, as advised by their Nobel winning inventor (this current cycle has been confirmed by the HSE to a Parliamentry question), therefore questionable to say the least. The science behind covid statistics was recently questioned by two Irish Coroners, (one I believe is also a lawyer?) but who seem to have not commented since! All of the points you make are easily debated but the problem is, debate is all but ignored. thank you. 

Elizabeth
Elizabeth from CW commented:

I totally disagree with having to show a covid passport. I have had the vaccine myself but I dont think people should be bullied into taking it. We are loosing all our rights as individuals. We are grown ups and should be able to decide ourselves on what precautions we need to take. I dont believe we know enough about this vaccine to be injecting our younger population. It is after all experimental. I am extremly tired since I took mine. My son who is 25 took his jab yesterday and is extremly sick all night and today. Yet we all remained well during the panademic. No tireness, no covid, no sickness. We washed our handss, wore the masks etc. I dont think it is good enough to now, insult us with having to carry a passport and exclude the people who may not want to take an experimental vaccine. If this vaccine is harmful, then we will need some unvacinated people to carry on. No to Vaccine passports - no to any more infringements on our liberties. 

Someone
Someone from SO replied to Elizabeth:

Like you I am extremely fatigued since I had my first vaccine 8 weeks ago. I am breathless just walking up the stairs. Some days I can barely make a cup of tea. My eyes are very dry and painful too. Prior to getting the vaccine I was very healthy and walked in my local woods for at least 90 minutes to 2 hours daily. I am very worried about getting the second vaccine. I had many concerns regarding these vaccines before Christmas. I did a lot of reading and research and looked at both arguments for and against. Since then it's much more difficult to find articles against the vaccines, most seem to be blocked on social media. The general media tend to show just one opinion, that vaccines are our saviour. Vaccinating young people in my opinion is not a good idea. We do not yet know the side effects, will it affect their fertility for example? No, I don't think we should have vaccine passports. 

Elizabeth
Elizabeth from CW commented:

I didn’t want my three to get the vaccine till we knew more about the side effects on fertility but they decided themselves to go ahead but atleast it was not Pfizer the mRNA which is getting labelled as the good one - the Astra and jensens carry a bit of covid in them like the original vaccines for polio and other diseases. mRNA is new and experimental. You will have to push yourself, I had hoped it was the weather and the restrictions that was causing the tiredness. My mother also has been experiencing the tiredness and she got it in March. 

Someone
Someone from WW commented:

It's another step to take away freedom from citizens. Its now known that Dr. Fauci used public money for Gain of Function research in Wuhan lab, and RTE is silent about it. It means that a virus from an animal is developed to attack humans. Another research is that there's no way PCR test can identify Sars2 Covid virus. The whole pandemic is based on false data from PCR tests. Green certificates will be based on lies and manipulation to control the population. And the question is what's your next trick? 

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