REUTERS

Australia's national carrier Qantas will require future international travelers to prove they have been vaccinated against COVID-19 before flying.

The airline's CEO Alan Joyce said in an interview with CNN affiliate Nine News on Monday that the move would be a "necessity" when coronavirus vaccines are readily available, CNN wrote.

Joyce said the airline was looking at changing its terms and conditions to "ask people to have a vaccination before they get on the aircraft."

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"Whether you need that domestically, we will have to see what happens with COVID-19 in the market. But certainly, for international visitors coming out and people leaving the country, we think that's a necessity," the Qantas chief said.

While Qantas is the first airline to indicate that Covid-19 vaccinations would be a must before travel, others could soon follow suit.

Read alsoFirst COVID-19 vaccines expected in Ukraine no earlier than May 2021 – media"I think it will be a common theme, talking to my colleagues in other airlines across the world," Joyce said.

A spokesperson for AirAsia told CNN Travel on Tuesday that once a vaccine is available the airline "will review the requirement for guests to be vaccinated against COVID-19 for international travel."

Air New Zealand said it was "really encouraged by the news around vaccines" and said in a statement that "ultimately, it's up to governments to determine when and how it is safe to reopen borders and we continue to work closely with authorities on this."

Read alsoModerna vaccine success gives world more hope – mediaThe IATA Travel Pass is now in its final phase of development. The airline body is planning to conduct a cross-border pilot test run later this year, with the aim of launching in the first quarter of 2021.

"Today borders are double locked. Testing is the first key to enable international travel without quarantine measures," said Alexandre de Juniac, IATA's director general and CEO in a statement.

"The second key is the global information infrastructure needed to securely manage, share and verify test data matched with traveler identities in compliance with border control requirements. That's the job of IATA Travel Pass. We are bringing this to market in the coming months to also meet the needs of the various travel bubbles and public health corridors that are starting operation."

Speaking at the virtual G20 leaders' meeting on Saturday, Chinese President Xi Jinping pushed for a global COVID-19 tracking system using QR codes, to help fast-track international travel and business.

Read alsoUkraine updates global travel advisories amid COVID-19 epidemicThe Australian government has also indicated that vaccinations could be mandatory when entering the country.

Coronavirus vaccine: Update by developers

U.S.-based pharma giant Pfizer, which jointly with Germany's BionTech is developing a vaccine against the coronavirus, updated the public on a higher rate of vaccine effectiveness.

A primary efficacy analysis demonstrates BNT162b2 to be 95% effective against COVID-19 beginning 28 days after the first dose; 170 confirmed cases of COVID-19 were evaluated, with 162 observed in the placebo group versus 8 in the vaccine group, the companies said in a press release.

The efficacy of the vaccine was consistent across age, gender, race and ethnicity demographics; the observed efficacy in adults over 65 years of age was over 94%.

The safety data milestone required by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) has been achieved.