Delta Variant Has EU's Travel Pass Hitting Roadblocks Already

The EU document -- essentially a QR code available on smartphones or on paper -- shows whether the bearer is vaccinated with one of the EU's approved jabs or whether they have recovered from an infection.

An EU-wide Covid certificate for easier travel came into force on Thursday, just in time for Europe's busy summer vacation period -- but the highly infectious Delta variant is already threatening to curtail its use. The EU document -- essentially a QR code available on smartphones or on paper -- shows whether the bearer is vaccinated with one of the EU's approved jabs (from BioNTech/Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Moderna or Johnson & Johnson), or whether they have recovered from an infection or recently tested negative. Under EU law, the certificate is meant to do away with the need for quarantines or further testing when travelling between the EU's 27 countries or four associated European nations (Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein). All EU member states were connected to the digital certificate system on Thursday except Ireland, which was hit by a cyber-attack targeting its health service in May and plans to have it operational on July 19.