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ARCHIVED - Communities across Spain scrap the Covid passport
The Valencian Community has yet to announce an end date for the measure
It appears that the days of the Covid passport may be numbered in Spain as several autonomous communities are scrapping their requirement for access to different public spaces. Since November, 13 regions have adopted the controversial measure, but Cantabria and Asturias announced last week that they will dispense with it and the courts in Aragon have refused to extend its use.
At the other end of the scale, Catalonia has just renewed the Covid passport for another two weeks while the Valencian Community and Andalucía haven’t yet announced an end date.
Since its inception, the measure has been incredibly controversial, with experts doubting its ability to prevent infection from the highly contagious Omicron variant. Likewise, those who choose not to be vaccinated have argued that the Covid passport is discriminatory, as in many regions unjabbed people are not allowed inside bars and restaurants, a major inconvenience during the chilly winter months.
Regional governments in half of the country adopted the Covid passport in response to Omicron as well as a preventative tool in the run-up to Christmas, at a time when Spain was almost unanimous in refusing to re-impose more severe restrictions, which the central government described as “from the past.”
The measure never actually had the full support of the Spanish government, which unilaterally refused to implement national guidelines. From the get-go, Pedro Sanchez insisted that the passport was created to facilitate international travel and that any other use was the decision of the individual communities and would need judicial endorsement.
While the impact of the Covid passport on infections has its sceptics, the Valencian president, Ximo Puig, stated last week that it has had a “positive effect” and has served “to increase the level of vaccination”. Likewise, the president of Andalucía, Juanma Moreno, has predicted another “three weeks of intensity” and is in favour of maintaining the measure.
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