The Spanish Ministry of Defence is to issue Covid passports to vaccinated soldiers. The passport proves they have been vaccinated, have previously had the virus or had a negative PCR or antigen test.
Unlike the municipalities and the Ministry of Health, Minister Robles’ department focuses solely on members of the armed forces. The Department has been involved in several ways in the fight against the pandemic since the outbreak of the coronavirus.
Defence supports
In principle, the digital EU covid certificate would only be issued by the autonomous communities and the Ministry of Health. Defence has now been added. They will issue certificates to members of the armed forces, who have been instructed to vaccinate their military health personnel. The technical preparations are in full swing.
Ministry sources indicate the certificate is now being issued ‘on a trial basis’. This is because the ‘Covid passport’ will not officially become compulsory until 1 July. On 7 June, the Covid passport trial started in a number of autonomous regions and by Public Health. Throughout the day, thousands of documents were issued or requested to prove that people had been vaccinated or had already had the coronavirus. The process went well, and the European Commission, at the request of the Spanish Government, changed the status from ‘technically prepared’ to ‘acting effectively’.
Two out of three certificates on covid passports
However, the Ministry of Defence will issue only two of the three possible certificates: the certificate confirming the person has been vaccinated and the certificate guaranteeing they have contracted the disease. The Ministry of Defence will not issue the certificate in the case of negative results of a PCR or antigen test carried out 48 hours before the journey.
Vaccination of athletes
At the request of Minister Carolina Darias, military health personnel administered vaccines to Olympic and Paralympic athletes participating in the Tokyo Games and to players of the national team that will play the European Championships. Public Health decided, as those individuals were not in the age groups due to be vaccinated, the vaccination could be carried out by the Armed Forces Medical Staff. The latter has its own quota of doses available to inject soldiers.
The vaccination of the Spanish football team was particularly controversial. The reaction of Defence was: “The order is given by Public Health. If they say we have to vaccinate, we vaccinate”.
