As Lithuania advances with vaccinating its population for Covid-19, some have suggested that the so-called immunity passports could allow relaxing restrictions for people already protected from the virus. Here's what we know so far.
Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė suggested the idea of immunity passports in January. The documents could be issued to people who were either vaccinated against Covid-19 or recovered from the disease.
However, she later back-tracked from the idea, saying it would not be fair to people who cannot get the vaccine yet.
“Since we don't currently have enough vaccines for everyone and can't motivate people [to get the jab], having this passport would not make sense,” Šimonytė said.
Meanwhile, Health Minister Arūnas Dulkys has said that immunity passports were being discussed among EU governments and could be introduced to facilitate international travel.
“At the moment, all EU countries have delegated their representatives to task groups that are working on this issue,” Dulkys told reporters on Wednesday.
But the Health Ministry has told LRT.lt that the EU is developing a vaccination certificate that will be used by all member states.
“It will be available electronically and in hard copy and people will be able to download it for free from the E-health platform (ESPBI IS),” the ministry said in a written statement.
As of Thursday, some 136,000 people in the country have been vaccinated against Covid-19 at least once. Another 171,000 people have recovered from the disease.
Read more: Lithuania unlikely to meet vaccination targets – minister
Newsletter
Every Friday morning.
