The government will begin issuing internationally recognised vaccination certificates to Australians fully immunised against Covid-19 this week in preparation for the resumption of travel.
From Tuesday, those with a valid passport who have had two jabs recorded in the Australian immunisation register will be able to obtain a pass through myGov or the Medicare Express Plus app.
It will allow Australians to depart the country when borders begin to open, starting with NSW from November 1.
The cross-border certificate, which will be available to print or download, features a QR code that border officials can scan to verify a person’s Covid-19 vaccination status.
The Visible Digital Seal (VDS) technology uses the ePassport public key infrastructure that has been recognised by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) since 2004.
Border officials will be able to authenticate a certificate using ePassport readers or the VDS-NC Checker app that has been developed by the Australia Passport Office.
It is also compatible with digital wallets and Covid-19 travel apps like the International Air Transport Association Travel Pass that Qantas has adopted.
The apps allows airlines to verify whether international travellers have been fully vaccinated and returned a negative Covid-19 test prior to travel.
The planned launch of the internationally recognised certificates comes as South Australia begins a three-week pilot of domestic vaccination certificates through the mySA GOV app.
The VaxCheck pilot, which follows the lead of NSW and Victoria last week, will initially be limited to 50 participants who are fully vaccinated against Covid-19.
NSW last week became the first to begin offering vaccine certificates through its Service NSW app across the state.
