In a recent interview with the BBC, Qantas boss, Alan Joyce has said that “governments are going to insist” on vaccines for international travellers.
It’s no secret that Qantas CEO Alan Joyce is all for mandatory vaccinations for international travel.
Last year, he told ACA host Tracy Grimshaw that any Australian who wants to travel overseas on Qantas will first have to receive a COVID-19 vaccination.
In a recent interview with the BBC, the CEO of Australia’s national carrier said that he believes “governments are going to insist” on vaccines for international travellers.
Alan Joyce told the BBC that many governments were talking about vaccination as “a condition of entry”.
What would this mean?
If many governments around the world made the COVID-19 vaccine a condition of entry, it would mean that, just like visas and other vaccines like yellow fever, you’d have to hold a valid health passport to enter that particular country.
Alan Joyce told the BBC, even if governments won’t put the rules into place, he believes every airline should enforce its own policy written into the terms and conditions of the tickets.
“We have a duty of care to our passengers and to our crew, to say that everybody in that aircraft needs to be safe,”
Alan Joyce, Qantas Group CEO
It already looks as if the digital health passport is the future of air travel; with many airlines from around the world testing different apps for passengers to update their health and vaccine status before boarding.
Qantas has already run its first customer trial of the CommonPass digital health app on its international repatriation flight from Frankfurt to Darwin, as it prepares to support the resumption of COVID-safe international travel from late October.
According to Mr Joyce, “The vast majority of our customers think this is a great idea – 90% of people that we’ve surveyed think it should be a requirement for people to be vaccinated to travel internationally.”
However, some people disagree with the travel condition; including Bernardo Mariano, World Health Organisation director of digital health and innovation and British Airways chief executive Sean Doyle.
“People who’ve been vaccinated should be able to travel without restriction. Those who have not been vaccinated should be able to travel with a negative test result,”
Sean Doyle, BA chief executive
What do you think? Do you agree that a vaccine should be mandatory for international travel or do you think a negative test result prior to boarding is sufficient?
Would these rules stop you from flying with certain airlines or travelling to selected countries?
Let us know – email editor@karryon.com.au
