Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, traveling complications have risen and most countries require travelers to be fully vaccinated.
These nations require vaccine proof in the form of certificates or official documents which need to be shown at immigration whenever entering a foreign country.
The majority of nations issue a digital certificate that is accepted by immigration officers that guarantee entry to the country. An example of this is the European Union gives a digital certificate that allows the EU citizens to travel freely within EU Member states. The EU Digital Certificate contains a QR code with a digital signature to protect it against counterfeit.
COVID-19 vaccine Certificates Issued with Prime Minister’s Photo at The Bottom is a Problem for Indians At Immigration Abroad
The COVID-19 vaccine certificates that were issued with Prime Minister’s photo at the bottom are now creating trouble for Indians as Indians traveling abroad are being suspected of fraud according to Vice. The reason is no other country has its ruler, prime minister, or president on the COVID-19 certificates and the immigration officers are getting suspicious of this.
An Indian woman, Deepti Tamhane, displayed her vaccine certificate to an immigration officer at Frankfurt airport. The officer then asked the Indian lady about PM Modi’s picture on the certificate and distrusted her with the accusation that she had a fake vaccine certificate.
“The woman at the customer service desk was so shocked. She looked at my vaccine certificate over and over again. She told me that she deals with passengers day in and day out, but this was the first time she had seen any prime minister’s photo on a personal document. She thought we were committing a fraud” Tamhane told Vice.
Reddit user Jujhar_Singh also said, “My friend got stopped by Siberian immigration at the airport because the man on his vaccine certificate was different from him,” the user said.
The user also said that the immigration officer “shared a really good laugh about the Prime Minister stamping his face on the vaccine.
Prime Minister Modi’s picture on the COVID-19 certificate has been an extremely controversial topic in India as well. The Minister of State in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Bharati Pravin Pawar explained the reason why vaccine certificates have PM Modi’s photo.
“The photograph along with the message of the prime minister in the vaccination certificates reinforces the message for creating awareness about the importance of following Covid-19 appropriate behavior even after vaccination, in the larger public interest,” the minister said during her address to Rajya Sabha.
However, she did not explain how the photograph of a maskless PM Modi would help to support the message that even the vaccinated need to follow the guideline of wearing a mask in the public.