Looking ahead to reopening its national borders, Australia plans to start a limited vaccine passport pilot scheme. The government will test the proposed vaccine passport system with several overseas destinations using travel between Australia’s diplomatic missions in certain countries.

It could include travel to from and between Singapore, Japan, South Korea, the UK the US, and Pacific Islands.

Minister for Trade and Tourism Dan Tehan said, “When international borders open we want to make sure we’re ready for people to be able to travel again and it’s incredibly important that we’re doing that preparatory work.”

The new system would involve a QR code linked to conventional passports to prove vaccination status.

Australia is expected to reach its 80% fully vaccinated target for the adult population by the end of November.

So far about 42% are fully vaccinated.