ARCHIVED - Spanish government rejects demanding Covid passports for entry into bars and restaurants
Vaccination certificates are already required for entry into certain venues in the Canaries and Galicia
In response to the concerns expressed by various regional governments of late the Ministry of Health in the Spanish government has come out firmly against the use of “Covid passports” to control entry into bars, restaurants and other establishments, although in the Canary Islands and Galicia such measures have already been introduced to a certain extent.
For the time being at least, according to Health Minister Carolina Darias, there are no immediate plans to follow the lead set in France, where a controversial bill has been passed obliging all residents to produce Covid vaccination certificates to gain access to bars, restaurants and even some forms of public transport.
At present, Sr Darias adds, the priority is to continue vaccinating the population, a campaign which has now led to 55.7 per cent of Spain’s population having been fully vaccinated.
Prior to Wednesday’s meeting of the inter-territorial health committee it had been expected that proposals made by the regional governments of Catalunya, the Comunidad Valenciana and Madrid would be debated, tackling the issue of making Covid passports a requirement in certain establishments. Instead, it was merely confirmed that the regulations introduced in the Canaries and Galicia are not illegal because rather than demanding the presentation of the EU’s Covid Passport, which was designed for the purpose of facilitating international travel, they require the vaccination certificates issued by Spain’s health service.
In Galicia the vaccination certificate (or a recent negative PCR test) is required for entry into bars, restaurants and discotheques with especially high incidence rates, and in the Canaries similar requirements have been extended to indoor cultural and sporting venues.
But other regional governments have been more reluctant to pass such measures without legal or national government backing, hence the demands for nationwide guidelines applicable in all areas.
For the moment, the Spansih government says, this will not become a nationwide requirement, however, as always, regional governments are free to run their own regions, within the law.