EU vaccine passport plan could lead to forced vaccination

• European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced that the European Union is planning to introduce coronavirus vaccination certificates
• EU’s move to introduce “vaccine passports” could lead to forced vaccination and would violate the principle that inoculation should be voluntary
• Russia concerned about possible discrimination against Russian nationals without “vaccine passports” in the European Union

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Russian Foreign Minister today issued an official comment on yesterday’s announcement by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen that the European Union is planning to introduce coronavirus vaccination certificates.

According to top Russian diplomat, Russia is hoping that new European COVID-19 “vaccine passports” scheme will not discriminate against Russian citizens.

“At our level, we informed our colleagues in the European Union that we expected them to make decisions that will not discriminate against Russian nationals,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a press conference today.

The minister stressed that the EU’s move to introduce “vaccine passports” could lead to forced vaccination and would violate the principle that inoculation should be voluntary.

“It seems that the initiative runs counter to the rules of democracy because EU countries decided that vaccination would be voluntary,” Lavrov noted. “It means that people will be forced to get vaccinated in order to be able to travel, and people in the European Union can hardly imagine their life without traveling between countries,” he added.

“We’ll see how it plays out. I hope that a decision will be made based on the positions of member states. The principle that vaccination should be voluntary is very important,” the Russian foreign minister said.