Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will update the NHS Covid-19 App with a QR code to enable children between the ages of 12 and 15 to provide evidence of their recent recovery from covid-19 so that they can travel overseas.

The NHS COVID-19 App is primarily a contact tracing app which is available to those aged 16 years old and over. App users are anonymous so it cannot be used as proof of vaccination status. The NHS App provides access to a range of services including vaccination status and the NHS COVID pass.

There are no plans to allow children aged between 12 to 15 years old to provide evidence of their recent recovery for overseas travel. No countries recognise natural immunity as an exclusive qualifier for relaxed border measures. Where natural immunity is recognised, vaccination and/or testing are also always accepted. We are looking at ways for children aged 12 years old and over with two vaccinations to demonstrate their vaccination status for international travel. This will be available shortly, initially via an NHS COVID Pass travel letter. Further information will be made available in due course.