Why Covid passports are grounded

After almost two lost summers, international travel is slowly getting back to something approaching normal, but travelling abroad is still not easy. There are complex demands for tests, long queues at the airport and mountains of paperwork. Surely, there must be an app for that?

This is why, since the early days of the pandemic, governments, the travel industry and airlines have all talked about digital Covid health passes. So why aren’t we there yet? And how long until proving our vaccination status at the airport is as easy as scanning a passport?

“The airport is too late”

“By the time we get to the airport, that’s far too late,” said Dr Edgar Whitley, who specialises in digital identity