The former Labour Prime Minister made the call in a new report published by the Tony Blair Institute. It says the UK should use its current position as leader of the G7 group of nations to establish the Covid-19 “travel pass”.
Speaking to The Telegraph, Mr Blair said the travel passes would be “inevitable”, although there are fears they could end up being divisive.
He claimed: “It’s better to have common rules and a common verification system, so that people know what your disease status is and know it with some validation.”
Under the plans set out in the former Prime Minister’s report, the vaccine passport would be digital and could be used by authorities to track each person’s Covid-19 “status” worldwide.
It would also contain information of vaccines they had been given as well as test results.
However, some analysts have hit out at the idea of a coronavirus passport. Dr Clare Wenham, assistant professor of global health policy at the London School of Economics, has described the idea as a form of “vaccine apartheid” and said they could lead to “civil unrest”.
She told the Telegraph: “From an ethical point of view vaccine passports are completely unacceptable”.
READ: Priti Patel: ‘We won’t hesitate to tighten quarantine controls’
In any case, Mr Blair’s suggestion comes as the UK is set to host this year’s G7 meeting in Cornwall.
At the meeting in June, G7 members will discuss “shared challenges” including the coronavirus pandemic and climate change, the Government has said.
There are actually eight current G7 members – the UK, Canada, the US, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the EU.
In addition, Boris Johnson is confirmed to have invited leaders from Australia, India, and South Korea as guests to attend this year’s meeting.
The Prime Minister said in a statement last week: “As the most prominent grouping of democratic countries, the G7 has long been the catalyst for decisive international action to tackle the greatest challenges we face.
“Coronavirus is doubtless the most destructive force we have seen for generations and the greatest test of the modern world order we have experienced.”
