New York/Addis Ababa - The African Union, acting through its principal health agency, the African Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (Africa CDC), and the Commonwealth of Australia will collaborate on interoperability of digital COVID-19 vaccine certificates.

Interoperability covers the means and modes of verification of the authenticity and authorisation methods of such vaccine certificates. On the African Union side, the verification process shall be facilitated by the PanaBIOS-supported Trusted Travel (www.africacdc.org/trusted-travel) and Trusted Vaccines (www.africacdc.org/trustedvaccines) platforms. International and transiting travellers, on the other hand, shall be assisted to comply through the Global Haven Initiative (www.globalhaven.org), which is enabled by a multilateral technology platform supported by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the UN’s technical lead agency for the socioeconomic response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Such multilateral and digital measures have become critically important due to the growing incidence of fake, falsified and doctored vaccine certificates around the world at a time when growing vaccination coverage around the world offers a glimmer of hope about a safe reopening of the global economy and increased international travel.

“This is a major step towards a rupture from the isolation COVID-19 has brought upon many countries in the world, including on the African continent. No country could face this pandemic alone and no country can recover from it on its own,” emphasized Ahunna Eziakonwa, UNDP Assistant Administrator and Regional Director for Africa. “At UNDP, we recognise the need for multilateral solutions in the global pandemic recovery effort, such as this AU-Australia collaboration. This is precisely what had motivated our decision to become a key player in the Panabios and Global Haven initiatives early on during the pandemic. Today’s announcement is a testimony that technology is an essential tool for our global path to a better new normal.”

On his part, Dr. John Nkengasong, Director of the Africa CDC, was hopeful that the collaboration represents optimism for the future direction of the pandemic without relaxing vigilance.

He said, “Our philosophy, even as we proclaimed the onset of a new Global Public Health Order in the wake of the pandemic, has been that Africa and the world must protect both lives and livelihoods as we fight COVID-19. International reopening facilitated by innovative screening technologies and transcontinental agreements ensures that the principle of non-discrimination supports a uniform global recovery.” Julia Niblett, Australian Ambassador to the African Union, shared the following statement: “proof of vaccination is a key step in safely reopening international borders and supporting economic recovery from COVID-19. Australia welcomes the opportunity to work with the African Union to support the reopening process and interoperability of vaccination certificates.”

Australia’s International COVID-19 Vaccination Certificate was the first to adopt the global standard for digital vaccination credentials developed by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) the Visible Digital Seal for Non-Constrained environments (VDS-NC).

The Global Haven mechanism has digitised the quality assurance process for thousands of labs and vaccination centers around the world depended upon by travellers to reduce the risk of infection as they resume international travel.

The PanaBIOS and the Global Haven initiatives are grounded on a standardized and harmonized testing platform that enables international cross-border travel and trade, as well as business continuity in the face of health and similar catastrophes, thereby creating resilience into the future.

For media inquiries, please contact:

Eve Sabbagh – eve.sabbagh@undp.org

Benjamin Djoudalbaye – BenjaminD@africa-union.org

Maud Isliker – public@panabios.org

Jenny Da Rin – adba.info@dfat.gov.au