The European Commission has announced that it has adopted new mandatory rules for the validity of COVID vaccination certificates. The period within which EU countries will be required to recognize travel certificates will be nine months from the last dose.
For the time being, no validity period for the additional (booster) dose certificates is foreseen.
The new rules introduce indications that clearly reflect the difference between completed vaccination certificates and additional dose certificates. For example, when administering an additional dose to a vaccinated person with a single-dose vaccine, a document marked 2/1 will be issued, and for the others – 3/3, the commission explains.
It is added that when using certificates for purposes other than travel to the EU, countries will be able to apply their own rules.
So far, 807 million certificates have been issued in the EU, recognized in 60 countries around the world. It is specified that the presented changes are not related to changes in the form of the certificate, but will require reconfiguration of the applications, through which the validity of the documents of the vaccinated is checked.