By Francesco Guarascio
(Reuters) – The European Commission on Tuesday adopted rules that will make the European Union’s Covid-19 certificate valid for travel for nine months after the completion of the primary vaccination regimen, a bloc official told Reuters.
The new rules will be mandatory in the 27 EU countries from Feb. 1, the official said. The rule can be barred by a qualified majority of bloc governments or a simple majority of members of the European Parliament, but officials say the measure has sufficient support.
The rule replaces a non-binding recommendation that the European Commission adopted in November.
Once the rule takes effect, EU countries will be required to allow fully vaccinated travelers with a valid pass to enter their territories. But, as an exemption justified by the deterioration of the situation, they could still impose additional requirements, such as negative tests or quarantines, as long as these are proportionate.
Several countries in the bloc, such as Italy, Portugal and Greece, are currently requiring that fully vaccinated travelers from EU countries also present a negative Covid-19 test on arrival, measures that some consider detrimental to the pass’s credibility.
The new rules only apply to international travel.
Governments may set a different duration of the Covid-19 pass to allow access to events or activities in closed places within their territories.
After a booster vaccine, the validity of the Covid-19 pass will be extended without a fixed limit because, at the moment, there is not enough information about the duration of protection for boosters, the EU official said.
Currently, a primary vaccination regimen against Covid-19 in the EU consists of two doses of vaccines produced by Pfizer-BioNTech, AstraZeneca and Moderna or a single dose of vaccine from Johnson & Johnson.
(Additional reporting by Philip Blenkinsop)
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