Warnings 'vaccine certificate' privileges could spark resentment

An expert has hailed the Federal Government's release of a digital COVID-19 vaccine certificate as a crucial step on the road to normality – but warned that it must be done carefully.

Professor Sanjaya Senanayake from the Australian National University said it was a "really big step".

"For the first time since March of last year we might have a situation where people can leave their community with no COVID, go to an area which has some COVID and return home with relatively few restrictions and still be protecting their community," he told Today.

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However, he warned that if some Australians would be treated differently to others, then the vaccine rollout would have to be done in a "very equitable manner".

"I'm particularly thinking of culturally and linguistically diverse Australians because we don't want a scenario where less privileged Australians who want to get vaccinated are watching more privileged Australians get vaccinated, jet-setting around the world, because that can lead to resentments," Professor Senanayake said.

"We have to think of how we deal with people who have a medical exemption for vaccination, how we deal with that in a sensible and sensitive manner."

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The certificate is automatically issued to a person's Medicare account when they have been fully vaccinated.

It can be downloaded to a phone and used in a similar manner to a digital driver's licence.

Tech expert Trevor Long has said while the certificate was close to being "tamper proof", it lacked a QR code.

The codes are increasingly being used to check into venues and shops around the country.

Mr Long said similar programs had been well-adopted overseas.

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"You get to the point where they are looking at the openness of travel, which is what we all want to see – the last freedom we're missing," he said.

He said the digital certificates would likely begin to link internationally.

"We should get to a point where our passport, the European passports, all work together, and we can travel freely and we'll be able to get back to some sort of normality," he said.