Sweden will provide citizens that want to travel with a digital "vaccine passport" to confirm that they have been inoculated for COVID and are safe to move around.
Digitalization Minister Anders Ygeman said the government had asked three agencies to oversee the launch of the program and produce the certificates. Ygeman said that they were currently coordinating with the European Union and the World Health Organization.
Officials hope to make the vaccine passports a requirement for all travelers and certain activities when the country and the rest of Europe opens up borders.
Sweden's plan to issue digital vaccine passports comes just a day after Denmark announced a similar program. On Wednesday, the government of Denmark said that it was working with local businesses to develop a passport or certificate that can be used by citizens to confirm that they had already been vaccinated.
Officials said that they hope the program would allow the resumption of normal daily life for those who have already been inoculated.
Denmark's Finance Minister Morten Boedskov said during a news conference that the program should be ready to launch in "three, four months." Boedskov said that the "digital corona passport" should be ready for use for multiple purposes such as business travel.
Danish officials said they were currently studying proposals for the use of the digital passport for other purposes such as sporting events, concerts and other activities.
"It is absolutely crucial for us to be able to restart Danish society so that companies can get back on track. Many Danish companies are global companies with the whole world as a market," Boedskov said.
The European Union is reportedly also weighing in the utilization and issuance of vaccination certificates to citizens to help ease travel restrictions. Analysts said that the trading bloc does not want another disaster for the tourism sector, which is why it is closely reviewing the proposal.
