COVID Vaccine to Become Travel Requirement
Qantas Airways Limited, the Australian airline has officially announced via a television interview with A Current Affair’s Tracy Grimshaw that once they resume flight services, passengers on international travel plans will be required to present proof of a COVID-19 vaccination through a smart chip placed in their “digital passport” before they can board the airline’s upcoming flights.Announced just yesterday through the Australian Nine Networks channel show, the CEO of the travel company Mr. Alan Joyce has revealed, “We are looking at changing our terms and conditions to say, for international travelers, that we will ask people to have a vaccination before they can get on the aircraft.” While this is meant to be a step in the right direction, anti-vaxxers are already pushing back against the announcement, going so far as to claiming that it is discriminatory to expect everyone to vaccinate against the virus and present proof of the vaccination.
People around the world are divided amongst anti-vaxxers and those thinking logically about the situation, with the latter observing the fact that often airlines require certain vaccinations before you can travel to destinations where viruses and diseases are prevalent like cholera and the yellow fever.
#BREAKING: QANTAS CEO confirms that proof that you've been vaccinated for COVID-19 will be compulsory for international air travel onboard his aircraft. #9ACA pic.twitter.com/dhk3Hsnxn9
— A Current Affair (@ACurrentAffair9) November 23, 2020
This, however, is not the first time that an idea like this has been floated. Early during the pandemic when it was still being considered an epidemic, the Chinese President Xi Jinping suggested the introduction of “globally-recognized health QR codes” to ensure that only vaccinated or immune passengers travel internationally.
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Credit: Qantas Aiways
