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Now that vaccines against COVID-19 have been rolled out, the next step is for countries to slowly ease back to normalcy to cover lost ground.

One of the major benefits of the vaccine is that it allows a person, in theory at least, to resume a normal lifestyle. This means having the freedom to socialize again and, of course, travel without fear of potentially getting sick.

However, not everyone is into the idea of getting vaccinated out of dread or whatever reason.

Not all countries too are implementing a sound inoculation program, leaving a huge number of the population confused and left out into potentially receiving the vaccine.

This makes it difficult for countries that are opening their borders to determine whether a visitor has been inoculated or not.

A suggestion though has been put forward: vaccine passport.

What is a vaccine passport?

A vaccine passport is evidence that a person had been vaccinated against COVID-19. It is a form - digital, ideally - that includes all details including the date when the person was inoculated, the brand or manufacturer of the vaccine, batch number, among others.

As the name suggests, it will be used by a person as proof when visiting a country or place where it might be deemed required.

Some see this as a key and crucial tool to get international travel going once again.

Will it be used by all countries?

So far, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Estonia, Greece, and Poland, among a few, have expressed interest in issuing vaccine passports or certificates to its citizens for travel purposes.

Having said that, these countries will most likely require visiting foreigners to present health certificates of their own provided by their countries of origin.

It's worth saying, however, that not all countries are warm to the idea of a vaccine passport.

The United Kingdom, Germany, and France have expressed concerns that such a system is discriminatory as not everyone has access to the vaccine.

Even the World Health Organization (WHO) has voiced out its reservations about vaccine passport.

The UK's vaccine Minister Nadhim Zahawi argued that COVID-19 jabs are not compulsory in the country, and people should get the vaccine “because they want to rather than it be made in some way mandatory through a passport.”

Zahawi, however, stressed that people can request an immunization certificate from their doctors or hospitals where they were vaccinated.

A universally accepted vaccination certificate might also take a bit of time to make, impeding its swift implementation in airports across the world.

How about here in the Philippines?

The Department of Health (DOH) is onboard with the idea of issuing vaccine passports to Filipinos who have been given the COVID-19 vaccine.

“Itong vaccine passport na ito, meron po tayo. Magkakaroon po tayo ng ganyan, and as we have said in the previous na mga pag-uusap, magkakaroon po tayo ng data registry for all recipients,” Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire told reporters in January.

A QR code will be given to each person who would be inoculated.

“This would be something of a unique identifier for a specific person who will receive the vaccine, and dito magkakaroon din po sila ng card na nagsasabi na sila ay nabakunahan, either with one dose or two doses. This will serve as their certificate that they have been vaccinated.”

The DOH, Vergeire added, believes that vaccine passports or certificates will soon be widely implemented by many countries as part of their travel requirements moving forward.

Meanwhile, not even a pandemic can stop some of our local celebrities from traveling to some parts of the country. Find out who in this gallery: