Travel plans for many may be in jeopardy as some countries have announced they will be setting an expiry date on Covid vaccine certificates.
As international began to reopen earlier this year, countries such as Croatia and Austria announced they would be reopening their borders to fully vaccinated people. However, both countries said an expiry date would be applied to the validity of vaccine certs.
With no booster shots being administered in Ireland to people aged under 60 without any underlying health conditions, people could be caught out with an out of date cert.
The valid period of the certs can be as little as nine months in some cases, meaning those vaccinated in early 2021 may now have an invalid cert.
Other countries such as Israel and Vietnam have now said they will be following the same process by setting a fixed validity period on the certs.
Croatia and Austria decided to set an expiry date in July and August 2021.
The vaccination certs were deemed valid for a period of nine months (270 days). However, this has now been extended to a year.
Those who received a Johnson Johnson vaccine’s vaccination cert will be deemed invalid 270 days after the 22 nd day after they received the jab.
Switzerland, which only opened its borders to foreign tourists in September, also set a validity period of one year.
Vietnam will reopen its borders to fully vaccinated visitors only as it begins its reopening in November.
Its strict admission rules state travellers must have had their second dose of the vaccine between 14 days and one year before travel.
A change in Israel’s policy means a Covid booster shot is now required six months prior to receiving the second dose.
Although Israel has not set a timeframe for proof of vaccination upon entry to the country, it has announced an expiry date of six months to green certs, which allow visitors to gain access to indoor establishments.
If your Covid vaccine certificate is now considered out of date in Croatia, Austria and Switzerland, you can still gain access to the countries with a negative PCR test.
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