EU easing travel rules for those vaccinated against Covid; NL to register vaccines given abroad
EU member states have approved a modified proposal intended to allow fully vaccinated European residents to travel freely within the Union this summer. Travelers who have been fully vaccinated for 14 days will be able to cross the borders of the 27 EU countries without quarantine, and without showing a negative coronavirus test result.
The new guidance follows the recent approval of Covid-19 certificates that are set to become operational from July 1. The European Commission that 12 of the EU countries have already connected to the EU Covid Certificate system, meaning their residents will be able to display their Covid-19 vaccination status using a QR code displayed by an app on a smartphone. The website dedicated to re-opening the bloc said that as of June 11 the Netherlands is “ready to connect” to the system, but that has not yet happened.
Those who are not fully vaccinated will be subject to restrictions based on where they are traveling from, and local rules where they arrive. The EU plans to revise its system for evaluating risk by categorizing countries as green, orange, red or dark red. To achieve the green status, a country may have no more than 25 people test positive for coronavirus per 100,000 residents for two calendar weeks in total if fewer than 4 percent of those tested have a positive result.
That will soon increase to 50. Countries with a one percent positivity rate can have 75 infections per capita to secure the green ranking.
The Netherlands was rated "red" for the period of May 18 through June 5 with per capita infections of about 200, and a positivity rate of about eight percent. Both figures have been declining steadily.
The plan still requires the approval of the bloc's health ministers. They will meet next week in Luxembourg to finalize details, which will still require children aged 12 and up to produce a negative coronavirus test result unless they are traveling between green regions.
De Jonge: Residents vaccinated elsewhere can be included
Dutch Health Minister Hugo de Jonge also said that Netherlands residents who were vaccinated abroad will be able to have records of their shot entered into the national CIMS database, a crucial piece for Dutch participation in the EU Covid Certificate program. The technical details have not been fully worked out.
“This complex issue involves several questions, such as the recognition and recognition of foreign COVID-19 vaccination certificates, which are not based on the European Digital COVID-19 Certificate,” he wrote in a letter to Parliament.
This will only be the case for people who have received an EMA-approved vaccine. They also must live in the Netherlands or be permitted to stay for a long duration and have a BSN number.
People who move to the Netherlands will likely be able to have their vaccination records entered into CIMS as well, De Jonge wrote