From 1 February, the international vaccination certificate is only valid if someone has had a booster shot on time, ie within nine months. According to outgoing minister De Jonge, he and his European colleagues agreed on this today in Brussels. The formal decision will be taken in the coming days.
The European Commission wanted the new travel rules to come into effect on January 10. Now that that will most likely be 1 February, the member states have three weeks longer to use booster shots. The Netherlands is one of the countries that lag most behind with boosters.
According to De Jonge, the digital corona certificate (dcc) is “a good way to keep the borders open” and it is therefore important that the countries coordinate the validity for boosters.
Out together, at home together
Several EU member states have already indicated that they want to tighten the rules for travelers on their own initiative. For example, Portugal again asks everyone to take a test. De Jonge called that “not wise. Going out together, at home together is very important.”
In his own words, the minister does not receive any criticism from his colleagues about the slow booster rate in the Netherlands. “We also accelerated,” he said.
De Jonge is in favor of obliging everyone, including vaccinated persons traveling to Europe from outside the EU, to take a PCR test for the time being. He has proposed this to his colleagues, but there is no agreement yet.
