A Costa Rican court has temporarily suspended the country’s implementation of a QR code-based Covid-19 vaccine passport, according to multiple media reports.
Per Delfino.cr, which says it obtained a copy of the precautionary order, the directive reads as follows:
THE IMMEDIATE SUSPENSION of the effects of the resolution of the Ministry of Health MS-DM-8119-2021 of October 14, 2021, is ORDERED, only as long as it orders the demonstration of a vaccination scheme through a QR code, which is it established as mandatory verification both for the commercial establishments indicated in the indicated resolution, as well as for the individuals or users thereof.
If implemented as announced by the Health Ministry, Costa Rica’s “vaccine passport” system would work as follows:
- Starting December 1, most businesses across Costa Rica would be allowed to operate at 100% capacity if they verified the Covid-19 vaccination status of all customers.
- Starting January 8, most businesses would be required to ensure that all adult customers were vaccinated against Covid-19.
Proof of vaccination would be demonstrated via a QR Code distributed through the Health Ministry. Foreign visitors would also be subject to the vaccine requirement, which led to pushback from the tourism sector.
However, the implementation of that vaccination requirement now remains in flux due to the Costa Rican court, which issued the suspension following a challenge from members of the tourism sector.
Neither the Health Ministry nor the Presidency have issued a public response to the legal challenge. The suspension of the QR code implementation was announced near midnight on Friday.
