Booster to be added to vaccination certificate

‘This new development for the Bailiwick’s 2d bar code will ensure travellers are able to demonstrate their full, up-to-date vaccination status when travelling anywhere where the bar code is required for travel or access to venues,’ a States spokesman said.

The European Commission has proposed travel restrictions from 10 January on double vaccinated travellers whose last jab was more than nine months ago.

‘The Travel Tracker also provides Bailiwick residents with access to a digital vaccination certificate, including a 2d bar code, for travel elsewhere,’ said Richard Evans, the director of the Covid-19 response.

Paper certificates will not be issued after booster jabs, but the updated digital certificate will be available for print and download from a Travel Tracker account.

In late November, the European Commission suggested updating the rules for vaccine certificates across the EU ‘to avoid diverging and disruptive approaches’.

The commission proposed an acceptance period of nine months for standard double vaccination certificates to comply with guidance from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, which suggests they provide protection for six months before losing efficacy.

The additional three months is to ‘ensure that national vaccination campaigns can adjust and citizens can have access to boosters’.

The commission’s proposals are now being discussed by the EU member states, who will decide on the final version.

The local booster programme is transitioning to walk-in only clinics at Beau Sejour in an effort to speed it up. It is hoped that most of over-18s population will be fully immunised by mid-January at the latest.

The spokesman confirmed that residents or returning Bailiwick students who were double vaccinated outside of Guernsey will still be eligible for the booster jabs at the Beau Sejour clinic.