The federal government is assisting with private-sector efforts in the U.S. to develop health passports, Andy Slavitt, a member of the Biden administration Covid-19 task force, said Monday.
But Slavitt emphasized that the White House does not view creating a passport as its role, despite differing approaches taken by the European Commission and some individual countries.
Rather, he said, the administration believes its role is to ensure equitable access to the passports, be them digital or paper, as well to guarantee privacy and security of information.
"This is going to hit all all parts of society. And so, naturally, the government is involved," Slavitt said.
Airlines are among the U.S. industries that have called upon the Biden administration to help standardize vaccine and testing credentials. A global standard for such credentials is believed to be critical for the reopening of borders and international travel.
Private initiatives are also working toward a goal of creating interoperable standards for the delivery and security of documents, such as vaccine confirmations and Covid-19 test results, to be used in digital health passports.
Numerous businesses and nonprofits around the world have developed and are fine tuning such passports to be used at airports, border stations, stadiums, workplaces and other locations.
On Sunday the Washington Post, citing five anonymous sources, said the Biden administration's effort to assist with the development of unified health passport standards has been led by the Department of Health and Human Services. The White House, led by Covid-19 task force coordinator Jeff Zients, took a larger role beginning this month.