EU plans, boosters, cheque card How long is the vaccination certificate valid?

Düsseldorf · The EU wants to limit the validity of the vaccination certificate to nine months. Then the booster vaccination must come. This has consequences for the digital vaccination certificate and the passport in cheque card format.

 A vaccination certificate and a smartphone running the app CovPass lie on a vaccination certificate issued by a pharmacy.

A vaccination certificate and a smartphone running the app CovPass lie on a vaccination certificate issued by a pharmacy.

Foto: dpa/Stefan Puchner

At first it was said that anyone who had been vaccinated twice was considered to be fully immunised. At Johnson & Johnson, even one prick was enough. But the digital vaccination certificates are already only valid for one year, calculated from two weeks after the second vaccination. But because of the declining effectiveness of the vaccines, this period is now to be shortened. Since the vaccination protection decreases after a few months according to current scientific findings, a decision is now pending "to adapt this digital vaccination certificate to the actual protective effect", said Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn (CDU).

In the EU, efforts are currently being made to achieve a uniform regulation; the EU Commission is aiming to shorten the deadline to nine months after completion of the first vaccination series. It has been shown that the vaccines lose their effectiveness after four to six months.

Vaccination certificate: cheque cards retain their validity for the time being

This means that citizens who wish to maintain their "fully vaccinated" status in perpetuity must obtain a booster vaccination. The status is important when entering many countries, when returning to Germany from high-risk areas because quarantine is then not required, and at all events and places where the 2G rule applies.

After the booster vaccination, you will receive a certificate with a QR code, as with the first two vaccinations, which you can already upload to the Coronawarn or Covpass app. Citizens who have had their certificate issued at the pharmacy in the form of a cheque card will then have to have it reissued in future. However, the following still applies: "The vaccination cheque cards remain valid even after a booster vaccination. This would only change after twelve months or when only boostered people are considered fully vaccinated," says Thomas Preis, head of the North Rhine Pharmacists' Association. However, the yellow paper vaccination book should remain valid. Here, too, three stickers indicate: fully vaccinated. (Original text: Antje Höning / Translation: Mareike Graepel)

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