Japan mulls issuing COVID-19 vaccination certificates

Japan is considering issuing certificates to those who have been inoculated against the coronavirus, minister in charge of vaccination Taro Kono said on Monday, as calls grow overseas for systems to ensure people can travel safely again.

"If requested internationally, we can issue inoculation certificates," Kono said in a session of parliament, adding the certificates can be processed through government vaccine rollout management systems as quoted by Kyodo News.

Kyodo News reported that Kono's latest remark is an about-face from an earlier position that Japan would not be in favour of issuing such documentation and comes as calls grow for such a system in the United States and Europe. Israel has already introduced a COVID-19 vaccine certificate scheme.

The minister last month appeared to shoot down the idea of using COVID-19 vaccine certificates for official purposes, including as a vaccine passport that would permit international travel and argued doing so would exclude those who cannot be inoculated because of allergies.

Japan began rolling out the COVID-19 vaccine last month, with health care workers at the head of the queue.

The Japanese news outlet further reported that on Monday morning, the fifth batch of COVID-19 vaccines developed by U.S. pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc. and its German partner BioNTech SE arrived at Narita airport in Chiba Prefecture, east of Tokyo.

( With inputs from ANI )