COVID-19: European Union sets 9 months validity on vaccine for travel

The European Union has set a nine-month validity on COVID-19 vaccine certificate for travel. The proposal comes amid the rising number of Omicron cases in the world. EU Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders said that the EU Commission was against additional requirements.

"We prefer to use for the free movement in Europe only the certificate without additional measures." said Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders.
The new rule will come into force on February 1, 2022 and will be applicable on the 27 EU states. The rule could have been blocked by a majority of EU governments but officials said there was enough support for it. The rule will replace a non-binding recommendation the EU Commission put forward in November.

The European Commission took to Twitter and said,
Today, we adopt a binding acceptance period of 9 months for vaccination certificates for intra-EU travel. A harmonised validity period for #EUCOVIDCertificate is a necessity for safe free movement and EU level coordination.

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Under this new rule, EU states will have to allow only fully vaccinated travellers with a valid pass access to their territory. The states are allowed to impose further rules such as negative test reports or quarantines. As of now, seven EU states require fully vaccinated travellers from other EU countries to also show a negative virus test upon arrival.
These seven states are Italy, Greece, Ireland, Cyprus, Austria, Portugal and Latvia.

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