CEO of the Tourism Business Council of South Africa (TBCSA), Tshifhiwa Tshivhengwa, in a communiqué to the tourism industry, tackled the issue of the importance of vaccination passports and the alignment of those documents with what the rest of the globe is doing in this arena.

He said these digitised documents could be the primary system for South Africans to use to show their PCR-test and vaccination status and, if the system and policy allowed it, the same system could be used for foreign travellers planning to come to South Africa, to prove their PCR and vaccination status. 

Agreeing with Tshivhengwa, Tourism Update reader, Mike Atter, had this to say:  “Without electronic verifiable results, those of us who travel for business or pleasure are becoming increasingly isolated.

Let’s take this a step further and find a local provider. Gencode Prelink, in conjunction with APS, is the first in Africa to integrate with CommonPass. It is live right now in South Africa. CommonPass is an NGO backed by the World Economic Forum and the Rockefeller Foundation.

Stakeholders just need to look at this technology. It is truly world-class and has been developed over the years by some of the best developers in the US, Europe and here in SA.”

Editor’s note: Take a look at Onne Vegter’s latest column for his opinion on vax passports (and other COVID-19 related vaccination information). Click here.