13/09/2022 Legal Affairs and Human Rights
The compulsory use of Covid passes, in particular vaccine passes – aimed at restricting travelling and access to certain public venues – entails risks of discrimination and infringements of human rights and fundamental freedoms, according to the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights. The parliamentarians have underlined that those risks are further exacerbated when there are inequalities in access to vaccination.
In adopting the report by Thorhildur Sunna Ævarsdóttir (Iceland, SOC), the committee pointed out that the introduction of Covid passes has in many instances led to distinct treatment of persons who have been vaccinated and those who have not, as well as to possible discrimination between persons vaccinated with different vaccines, including those which have been approved only by the European Medicines Agency (EMA), and those listed only by the WHO.
The committee therefore called on member States not to impose further restrictions “unless it is strictly necessary to halt or significantly slow the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic”, with all restrictions to be prescribed by law, for the shortest possible time, and to be proportionate to the pursued aim and effective.
It called to treat equally all people vaccinated against Covid-19 by a vaccine approved either by the EMA or by the WHO, and to avoid discrimination between those who have been vaccinated and those who have not or cannot be vaccinated, whether for medical or other reasons.