European Green Pass starting today, 1 July, to travel to and from all countries of the Union and the Schengen area. But is the first dose enough for the digital green certificate to be really useful outside the country of origin or without the second one will there be restrictions on entry to other member countries? To answer, at least in part, is the European Commission in the Faq published in the English version of the site.
The The basic premise is that at the moment it is the Member States who decide whether to accept a vaccination certificate after a dose or after the completion of the entire vaccination course. In Italy, for example, where the Pass is issued 14 days after the first administration, the hypothesis of a reshaping of the certification due to the delta variant is now being discussed and it is not excluded that the methods of issue may change in a short time.
In this regard, the EU Commission underlines how “the certificates will be issued to any person who has received a COVID-19 vaccination in an EU Member State, regardless of the number of doses. The number of doses will be clearly indicated in the COVID digital certificate. EU to indicate if the vaccination course has been completed. the regulation requires Member States to accept vaccination certificates under the same conditions“, namely that” for example, when a Member State decides to lift travel restrictions for its citizens who have a certificate for the first dose of a vaccine that has received marketing authorization throughout the EU and which provides for two, must extend the same treatment to other EU citizens “.
More certain news, on the other hand, on the double dose: on 31 May last, we read again, the Commission in fact “proposed to the Member States to lift the travel restrictions for people who are fully vaccinated (at the latest 14 days after the last dose) or cured of COVID-19 and who are holders of the EU digital certificate for COVID-19 “. A proposal to which the EU states have also been invited to comply.
Furthermore, it is still up to the Member States to “decide whether to give only one dose of a vaccine that includes two doses to people who are cured” of the virus. In this case, it explains “the vaccination certificate must indicate that the vaccination course has been completed following the administration of one dose. The Commission proposed that people who received a single dose of a two-dose vaccine, after previously infected with COVID-19, should be considered fully vaccinated for travel purposes. “
In essence, therefore, the EU Commission does not impose that there are necessarily two vaccinations to allow entry to member countries, but in fact leaves it to the member countries themselves to decide whether a double administration is necessary to enter them.