ArmChairCivvy wrote:Covid passports are facing all kinds of headwinds, but quite a novel proposal from Estonia, for creating a travel bubble with Finland.
The two national testing systems could be synchronised by using the already integrated digital prescription services: test before the trip, you will know by SMS but at the arrival end an "official" document is digitally available for inspection, and also expires after entry
... rinse and repeat
ArmChairCivvy wrote:Covid passports are facing all kinds of headwinds, but quite a novel proposal from Estonia, for creating a travel bubble with Finland.
The two national testing systems could be synchronised by using the already integrated digital prescription services: test before the trip, you will know by SMS but at the arrival end an "official" document is digitally available for inspection, and also expires after entry
... rinse and repeat
We should be looking at (and are possibly already discussing) something similar between the British Isles and Ireland (I know that Ireland is technically part of the British Isles, but..... well, history!), particularly if, as already suggested in a semi-official, mumbling sort of way, the UK starts diverting excess doses to the Republic first - makes a logical offshore "travel bubble" with relatively easily controlled borders.
Ireland would come after the BoTs (already in progress, but it would only take approx. two day's production to finish supplying all of them with both shots, so not a massive task).
Not sure what to do about the rest of Europe, firstly since their vaccine woes are basically self-inflicted and the European Commission's inept response has left a sour taste in the mouth (there are already reports of intimidation against NI Customs workers by the paramilitaries, to the extent that two ports have stood down their customs staff) and secondly because there aren't any other clear-cut "travel bubbles" that we could assist, (maybe the Iberian Peninsula?). It might be, from a historical perspective, a nice idea to assist our oldest ally, Portugal, but I think there is greater justification in supplying poorer nations, starting with the poorer Commonwealth members and working from there.
The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.
Winston Churchill