Vaccination can help to protect the susceptible population from both symptomatic and asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection, thereby reducing the transmission of the virus within the population. 10 The findings give a hint on the role played by vaccines in lowering infectiousness. 9 Analysis of the real-world dataset confirmed that the inoculation with mRNA COVID-19 vaccine (BNT162b2) substantially reduced the viral load when the vaccinated individuals got infected 12–37 days after the first dose of vaccine. 4 The two-dose regimen of the BNT162b2 (Pfizer-BioNTech) COVID-19 vaccine conferred 95% protection against infection in individuals that are 16 years of age or older. However, there is a lack of understanding on the impact of vaccination on the transmission of SARS-CoV-2. Several countries and agencies have already started implementing vaccination passports in an effort to eliminate domestic and international travel restrictions ( Table 1) travelers with vaccination passports will be exempted from testing and quarantine requirements. 8 According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( ), variant of concern is “ a variant for which there is evidence of an increase in transmissibility, more severe disease (e.g., increased hospitalizations or deaths), a significant reduction in neutralization by antibodies generated during previous infection or vaccination, reduced effectiveness of treatments or vaccines, or diagnostic detection failures.” 7 However, the emergence of novel SARS-CoV-2 variants (especially variant of concern) can affect the neutralizing potential of vaccine-elicited antibodies resulting in mild-to-substantial loss of efficacy. 6 Vaccination passports would hence be a more reliable and practical substitute since vaccination is considered a better correlate of protection. 7 Moreover, our limited understanding of how long does immunity lasts following SARS-CoV-2 infection makes immunity passports unreliable. 6 It has several practical limitations, such as the high cost of testing and susceptibility to reinfection. The immunity passport (also termed as “immunity license” or “immunity certificate”) is different from a vaccination passport as it provides documentation of the previous infection. Immunity passport or vaccination passport? 4, 5 The implementation of vaccination passports will help us return to a pre-pandemic status where there are no restrictions on global travel and trade. A vaccination passport is a document that provides proof of vaccination and certifies that the holder is protected from illness, and therefore, cannot act as a source of infection for others 3, 4 and can be allowed to resume routine activities that involve social interactions and travel (both domestic and international) without substantially contributing to the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 within the community. The concept of “vaccination passport” (also known as “vaccination certificate,” “immunization passport,” or “digital health pass”) is gaining the attention of policymakers and has become a hot topic of debate. As of June 11, 2021, Israel has fully vaccinated 59% of its population, while the percentage of people vaccinated is 50% in Bahrain, 47% in Chile, 43% in the United Kingdom, 42% in the United States, and 23% in Italy ( ). 2 The successful rollout of vaccines for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been followed by a global effort to achieve herd immunity. 1 The efficient human-to-human transmission of SARS-CoV-2 further challenged our capacity to control this ongoing pandemic. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that emerged in Wuhan, China got rapidly spread across the international borders mainly through air travel. However, vaccination passports can offer economic and health benefits that will allow the gradual recovery of the economy. The successful implementation of vaccination passports will be a complex task for the policymakers as it requires addressing several ethical, legal, and data security concerns outlined in this article. The majority of the countries that are dependent on travel and tourism have exhibited a positive inclination toward implementing COVID-19 vaccination passports, while others have a mixed opinion. Vaccination passport can be considered as a tool offering the holder the privilege of traveling freely within countries without any restrictions. It is a more reliable and practical substitute for immunity passports since COVID-19 vaccination is considered a better correlate of protection. A vaccination passport (also known as “vaccination certificate,” “immunization passport,” or “digital health pass”) is a document that provides proof of vaccination and certifies that the holder is protected from illness.
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