German health officials Thursday introduced that nation’s version of the digital COVID-19 vaccination pass, a smart phone app that will allow fully vaccinated Germans a simple way to prove their status.
Speaking to reporters in Berlin, German Health Minister Jens Spahn said Germans who have been fully vaccinated can use the app, known as the CovPass, on their smart phones to give them access to restaurants, museums or other venues that require proof of vaccination.
The health minister said people who get vaccinated will receive a letter or emailed certificates to upload to the app, and people who already have been vaccinated will get theirs retroactively. He said it will take time get them all out, but he said certificates and the app should be available to everyone in Germany who is fully vaccinated by the end of June.
Spahn said the yellow paper WHO-issued vaccination certificates will still be honored as well. But he said the idea is to use an app that is compatible with similar apps to those being introduced elsewhere in Europe.
“The goal is that this digital vaccination certificate can be read in Helsinki, Amsterdam or on Mallorca and with that, we as the European Union are setting a standard, which across countries so far does not exist in the world," he said.
The European Parliament Wednesday approved a measure establishing a digital COVID-19 certificate allowing travel throughout the bloc for those who are fully vaccinated.
Meanwhile, the country's Koch Institute for disease control (RKI) reported Thursday that 47 percent, or 39.1 million people in Germany, have had at least one shot and that 23.9 percent - or 19.9 million people of the country’s 83 million residents are fully vaccinated.
The RKI reports that as of Wednesday, almost 1.3 million people received an inoculation against the coronavirus making it the second highest number of injections given in one day since the country started its campaign.
