Japan to begin accepting requests for vaccine passports from July 26

Once I get my second shot, probably sometime in 2048, I will request the fax number and apply.

"we should never allow people to be discriminated against or forced unfairly according to whether they have been vaccinated or not," he said ...

They left off the word 'ironically'

Elephant in the room - They expect Japanese vaccinated citizens access to said 10 countries but they will not offer the same courtesy to those same country's visitors when they visit Japan. I hope every country which is not given reciprocal access refuses this. I've heard Singapore and Israel are already saying, "no".

If u have one does it mean you don’t have to quarantine upon returning to Japan? because that is still a requirement if I’m not mistaken. Unless you are an Olympic related person in which case you have a green light to entry.

‘and for restaurant discounts in Japan?,”

what is this fascination with restaurants? And are these discounts subsided with tax money? Do I need to take both my virus passport and national passport to get a discount? Is it only available at restaurants with a printed rainbow sticker at the entrance? Or everywhere?

Why they have to request it? Simply give it automatically.

@stickman1760

You raise an interesting point

It should be the case should it not?

Also, how about recognizing foreigners that have been fully vaccinated with proof of that from their respective governments?

There is no way that inoculations in the UK or the US are different from those in Japan.

Will it be that foreigners have to quarantine with exactly the same vaccines as Japanese have received whilst Japanese nationals don’t?

Lets wait and see….

Not new

I still have something like that from the 80s, listing my typhoid, yellow fever and cholera vaccinations - necessary for visas then for a range of countries

coronavirus is pretty benign compared to them

But things have changed, haven’t they!

So Japan is going to ask 10 nations to accept its vaccine passport but won’t reciprocate. The question i had in mind is will Japan accept its own vaccine passport for returning residents or will it be valid for Japanese passport holders only?

So, let's get this straight. Japan will be issuing "Vaccine Passports" that aren't recognized in Japan. LOL

Why do these certificates need to have your passport number and what happens when you renew your passport? Will Japan recognise my vaccine status?

If not reciprocal then it's probably a waste of the ink and paper it's printed on. And probably best just go digital. But at least a move in the right direction, Japan. Baby steps as they say.

It's very nice of them to make us vaccine passports.

They're planing it for months already, Why is not done yet?

In order to prevent fraud, vaccine certificates with passport number make sense. Every country should apply reciprocal entry regulations for inoculated travellers.

How much will the revenue stamp be?

Great... so less than 70% of elderly Japanese will be able to travel.

The vaccination certificates will be official records issued by municipalities showing a person has been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, with information such as name, passport number and date of vaccination also included.

Including non-Japanese passport numbers?

Until such passports a) exist and b) are recognized, there will probably be a hierarchy.

Famous athlete (white) with high chance of winning medal and this likely to draw huge TV audiences: “come on in! You refuse the vaccine on religious grounds and demand the freedom to go where you want and act as you please? You got it!”

Semi-famous athlete (not white) with moderate chance of winning medal: “Hi. Please quarantine for three days. If that’s too long or you feel it infringes on your rightzzzzz, then feel free to ignore it”.

Regular Joe: “Here is a microchip tracker which we are going to stick in your cranium. You make one false move and you’re out of here so fast it will make your head spin”.

There are still so many unknowns, such as the vaccines' effectiveness against the newer variants. I fear a passport may do no more than lull us into a false sense of security.

You could take that headline two ways. At first, I thought it meant I could prove my double-vaccination, here in Canada, and be allowed to go back to Japan for another two-month visit. Alas! Well, I hope if Japan asks Canada to allow vaccinated Japanese people to come as tourists, the Japanese government is denied the privilege. What's good for the goose....

They’ve been waiting for summer holidays to come

The big pharmaceutical companies will churn out millions upon millions of prototype vaccines but are not held responsible for any problems it causes; government is happy to spend billions on the prototype vaccines but are not held responsible for any outcomes, doctors are not held responsible for giving you the jab, yet, according the majority of JapanToday users, YOU are irresponsible for declining the jab that no one takes any responsibility for.

Every sentence is false, pharmaceutical companies have to take responsibility for all problems, just not directly to the particulars but to governments, which obviously take responsibility by offering compensation even to people tha can't prove vaccines caused any problem. Doctors are held responsible and that is why they need to inform every patient of identified risks and problems (and that is the reason you can't just get a vaccine in the mail).

If people choose to reject a vaccine they can always simply keep the social distancing measures that are necessary to not become a risk for others, not wanting to do either thing is what is an irresponsible thing.

RMToday 04:50 pm JST

Segregating the population because of a experimental vaccine is a terrible idea.

A few points: (1) there are multiple vaccines that use multiple methods to confer humoral immunity and (2) how are these vaccines 'experimental'? Please explain the second point as it is really the crux of the point that you are trying to make.

I am amazed Japan is so far behind with the whole vaccination program. The UK is hardly advanced but I have a digital vaccination pass I can show on my phone for attendance at large events and for travel. This virus isn’t going away and the sooner we learn to adapt and live with it the better for all

When I can see my own first vaccination on the horizon, then come back to me. Meanwhile, I have no idea when I can get a vaccination and I'm still waiting for my stupid voucher. What other country on this planet is using this idiotic voucher method? What makes it worse is that I know people who are slightly older and a lot younger than me who have already had theirs in this third-world country.

BAD IDEA!

They're planing it for months already, Why is not done yet?

They need to put some anti-counterfeiting tech into these or "everyone" will have one quickly. https://www.govtech.com/policy/fbi-fake-stolen-vaccination-cards-are-a-new-problem Moving too quickly can create untrusted documents which are worse than no documents.

The virus doesn't care about our privacy. Until most of the planet is vaccinated, these documents are a necessary evil. Hopefully, the places we like to visit will have vax-passports to make travel more convenient, less testing and no quarantines needed, unless a test shows it is required.

The people complaining are those who won't be vaccinated due to imagined risks that haven't been real since Feb. Last fall, the risks were real and unknown. Not so much now that nearly 1 billion people have been vaccinated.

I was waiting to get vaccinated for months too. Signed up on a state list to be notified when my group was eligible over frustration 2 weeks later, I was notified. 1 day later, I had signed up for an appointment and 6 days after that had the first shot. The point? Once you are eligible, things move quickly. 4 weeks later, vaccination was open to the entire adult population here, so my age only got the vaccination ball rolling 4 weeks before everyone was included.

I'm less interested in attending events where everyone isn't required to be vaccinated (or have a valid medical reason). I won't be getting on any cruise leaving from Florida as long as they don't mandate all passengers and crew are also vaccinated. My votes won't matter until next fall, but in the meantime, I can vote with my money.

Can't wait to add the Vaccination Passport Card to my Drivers License, Resident Card, My Number Card, Chonaikai Member's Card, etc. etc etc.

Don't forget your hokensho!

The UK is hardly advanced ...

The UK is miles ahead of Japan when it comes to public healthcare.

I am amazed Japan is so far behind...

I'm not.

Hi , After the Paralipics are over , let vaccinated tourists enter as well,Is good for the country’s economy .Thank you

this isn't about the Olympics this is about us... Let's try and look into the future.

Sure! Let’s abandon the huge waste of time money and resources happening now and look to the future.

Is that the first time this thought occurred to you? Better late than never.

Japan will have those vaccine passports ready in a snap.

Oh, they will go into overdrive cranking those out. They will be so gleeful and cheery as they put their factory-mentality to good use.

What an accomplishment it will be.

They will have a higher percentage of passports completed than vaccinations given per request.

More importantly, if I travel out of Japan and then come back to Japan, will they accept their own vaccination passport hmmm?

Don't forget your hokensho!

I KNEW I was missing something! How can I go on living with the embarrassment!?

Vax passport doesn't necessarily prevent infections as seen the resurging numbers across European countries of high vaccination rate. Some fully vaccinated Olympic visitors tested positive at airport (one case showed a false negative). Vaccination even its single dose seems to take effect on patients worsening. It also reduces death toll.

The introduction of vax passport means a major policy shift from "zero corona" toward "living with corona". The public should be informed of it, and consensus is needed.

Segregating the population because of a experimental vaccine is a terrible idea.

A very wise post!

Canada, is now permitting fully vaccinated Canadians or residents of Canada to come in without quarantining if they are fully vaccinated. 

This. So it's not only Japan that is only permitting inoculated residents/ citizens trouble free entry in/out; Canada already implements a similar policy, eh! And I guess others will follow.

Nationality should have nothing to do with it. The only requirement for approved entry (if they are taking this vaccine passport route) should be if one can prove they have been inoculated.

These moves prove that this is more a form of control of the movement of people and an appeal to nationalism, and nothing to do with the the virus.

Next countries are going to only allow those inoculated with certain vaccines entry (such as Sputnik V for entry into Australia, or whatever). We are headed for some interesting times, folks.

But "we should never allow people to be discriminated against or forced unfairly according to whether they have been vaccinated or not

So then why have such a passport in the first place? The whole ideas behind it is to distinguish between the 'haves' and the 'have nots' and to discriminate between the two.

@noriahojanen

I do not see how a document being a forgery or not can prevent infection. It is a document not an actual vaccine. I do not understand what you are talking about.

A second Ugandan visitor tested positive just a few days after the first case for the team

Where do you get elements pointing in direction of false negative ? He could just have gotten the virus in the plane or in the airport thus obviously the test will turn negative at the airport since the virus was not even settle in their new host. The test is not made to detect a simple contact with the virus but the active presence of the virus in the body. Could also have gotten it from any of the people (place) they have contact with : hanger on, hotel staff, toilets, ... after the airport. I did not see any information about them testing again sample from the immigration time and these turning positive.

Where do you get the update from the Lithuanian athlete ? They went from negative to positive to negative and they should be tested after but did not find update about the situation. It is quite a messy one for the team and hanger-on.

As inefficient as Japan has been at distributing and administering the vaccine, travelers FROM Japan should be required to quarantine a minimum of two weeks wherever they travel to, and the present proof of vaccination and recent negative test results for all subsequent economic activity.

Actually, Japan, with the tenth largest population on the planet, ranks only 35 th in number of cases, which indicates that the level of hysterical paranoia is way overblown.

Every sentence is false, pharmaceutical companies have to take responsibility for all problems, just not directly to the particulars but to governments, which obviously take responsibility by offering compensation even to people tha can't prove vaccines caused any problem. Doctors are held responsible and that is why they need to inform every patient of identified risks and problems (and that is the reason you can't just get a vaccine in the mail).

In theory yes, but "State of Emergency" declarations absolve governments of being held liable. Check your facts on how such declarations allow regular rule of law to be circumvented. As for doctors, General Practitioners are protected under professional indemnity insurance for ANY treatment involving material risks - and that includes the Covid vaccines.

Best of luck with it.

Will this apply to those stationed in Japan at a US Military base who were vaccinated on base?

Suga has said he aims to finish inoculating all eligible people in Japan who wish to receive shots by November.

If you need more football action in your life...just try and catch these goal posts!

Will this apply to those stationed in Japan at a US Military base who were vaccinated on base?

No, these will be pulling data from the japanese vaccination database (VRS) only.

Re International Vaccination Certificates.

Who first started calling them ‘passports’, and why was this perpetuated?

dan

Orwellian idea !!!

In what way?

Can't wait to add the Vaccination Passport Card to my Drivers License, Resident Card, My Number Card, Chonaikai Member's Card, etc. etc etc.

Vaccine passports are already available for 200M people in the US via the Clear app. It takes the records directly from the medical providers and you have an electronically signed chain of trust that can't be forged.

@noriahojanen

Vax passport doesn't necessarily prevent infections

Whoever believed a piece of paper prevented infection ? Even people know the actual vaccine was not likely to prevent it so the passport.

Some fully vaccinated Olympic visitors tested positive at airport (one case showed a false negative).

Source ?

Seems the sheet prior to July 1st is not available anymore, so using the one from that date, we got 2 people from oversea. I think I got one but they tested positive in the airport. I also I found an athlete which was not in the listing and went through a negative PCR test then a positive then a negative (do not know the final decision) but there is no indication of vaccination and clearly no indication it was a false negative instead of a too early one, so not sure it is the one you are talking about.

https://gtimg.tokyo2020.org/image/upload/production/xxmqbqtlrnquwcg3drou.pdf

https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20210709/p2g/00m/0na/056000c

Whoever believed a piece of paper prevented infection ? Even people know the actual vaccine was not likely to prevent it so the passport.

Other than disputed vax effectiveness, there is always risk of document forgery. Personally I can't trust Chinese products.

Seems the sheet prior to July 1st is not available anymore, so using the one from that date, we got 2 people from oversea. I think I got one but they tested positive in the airport. I also I found an athlete which was not in the listing and went through a negative PCR test then a positive then a negative (do not know the final decision) but there is no indication of vaccination and clearly no indication it was a false negative instead of a too early one, so not sure it is the one you are talking about.

A second Ugandan visitor tested positive just a few days after the first case for the team. He had earlier tested negative at the airport arrival floor, moved on to the camp (Note that as the team was put under inspection-monitoring once the first case was confirmed; thus it is highly unlikely the second guy got locally infected. There must have been a testing-error on the airport side).

Meanwhile the Lithuanian case went the other way (false positive to negative confirmed) and still troublesome. Overall, one can't over-rely on a test result at a single occasion.

Tokyo 2020: Second member of Uganda's Olympic delegation tests positive in Japan

https://www.bbc.com/sport/africa/57579612

Can't wait to add the Vaccination Passport Card to my Drivers License, Resident Card, My Number Card, Chonaikai Member's Card, etc. etc etc.

See, that’s what Gates’ chip injection is useful for, all your data can be conveniently stored floating through your venes. lol (only a joke)

Well pease let me get a vaccine first. I certainly want to.

Got the coupon but can’t make a booking anywhere… yet they are soon allowing people younger than me to get the vax. Guess I just don’t know the right people.

Orwellian idea !!!

In theory yes, but "State of Emergency" declarations absolve governments of being held liable.

No they don't, that is just an imaginary argument pulled out of thin air, why would then governments pay compensation for people that have negative effects after vaccination? even if they could not prove the problem was because of the vaccine? simple, they are still absorbing this specific liability. Also they keep strict vigilance over the vaccines and make the companies liable for anything that is not what it was reported, going from suspension of use of the vaccine to even criminal charges.

General practitioners are not absolved of responsibility, that only covers unexpected problems after everything is done according to the law, as in every other profession. The doctor made a mistake? did not inform the patient? vaccinated someone that should not have? then it would not be protected and hospitals will be very happy to let them be punished and sued for that.

How about we do a DNA screening for visa applicants to ensure they won't be a burden on society?

The big pharmaceutical companies will churn out millions upon millions of prototype vaccines but are not held responsible for any problems it causes; government is happy to spend billions on the prototype vaccines but are not held responsible for any outcomes, doctors are not held responsible for giving you the jab, yet, according the majority of JapanToday users, YOU are irresponsible for declining the jab that no one takes any responsibility for.

Go figure.

But "we should never allow people to be discriminated against or forced unfairly according to whether they have been vaccinated or not," he said during the TV program.

This is EXACTLY what it is for and what it should be for. Otherwise, there is no reason to make it. There is no other reason to make such a document.

Well, that and charging people for it, I suppose.

Freedom at last, we'll be able to fly back to our countries and meet our families having taken our vaccine responsibly, while the antivax spreaders will stay where they are lol.

Exactly the opposite.

When flu season arrives later this year and the vaccines offer reduced protection against “variants”, then the booster passport will be required.

And it starts all over again. You willingly give your freedom away, and then expect it back? Lol.

Easy to mock. But if the day comes when this does help us to circumvent Quarantine all those and those that will follow will rue mocking it.

And come one stickman, this isn't about the Olympics this is about us... Let's try and look into the future.

Segregating the population because of a experimental vaccine is a terrible idea.