ATHENS — Greece, Germany, and 5 other European Union nations launched a vaccination certificate system for travelers on Tuesday, weeks ahead of the July 1 rollout of the program throughout the 27-nation bloc.
The other nations beginning early were Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Croatia, and Poland, according to the European Commission.
Greece, which relies heavily on tourism, has been pressing for the commonly recognized certificate that uses a QR code with advanced security features. The certificates are being issued to people who are fully vaccinated as well as those who have already contracted the virus and developed antibodies and others who’ve had a PCR test within the last 72 hours.
The documents will have both digital and paper forms. They’ll be free of cost, distributed within the national language plus English, and be valid in all the bloc’s nations.
“EU citizens are looking ahead to touring again, they usually want to do so safely. Having an EU certificates is an important step on the way,” EU Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides stated.
Greece’s digital governance minister, Kyriakos Pierrakakis, stated easier travel will open up throughout the EU as nations adopt the new verification standard.
“What will happen is that nations will stop issuing certificates using their own convention and adopt the common conference. That will simplify things considerably because you can imagine the number of bilateral agreements that would otherwise need to be worked out,” Pierrakakis told private Skai television.
Kyriakides stated within the next few weeks, all EU nations need to “absolutely finalize their national systems to issue, store and verify certificates, so the system is functioning in time for the holiday season.”
Nations will be allowed to add extra vaccines to their individual entry list, including those that have not been formally permitted for use throughout the EU.
The EU Commission believes that people who are vaccinated should no longer have to be tested or put into quarantines, regardless of where they’re traveling to or from, beginning 14 days after receiving their second shot.
Member nations, however, haven’t yet endorsed that recommendation.
