No booster shot? You could be blocked from international travel after February

Rethink booking tickets for a ski vacation in Austria or a beach trip to Greece — next year, you might not be able to travel anywhere without getting your next prick. 💉 

Minister of Health Hugo de Jonge has announced that starting February 1, international vaccination certificates will only be valid if people have received a booster shot in time, the NOS reports.

Anyone who has not received a third vaccine jab (or a second shot for those who got Janssen) within nine months of their last vaccination will no longer be able to generate a QR code for travel.

But here’s some good news to the travel buffs out there: if you haven’t had the chance to get your next shot, it will remain possible to obtain an international QR code based on a negative corona test or a valid recovery proof.

EU regulations

The European Commission initially decided to put this travel rule in place on January 10, but countries now have an additional three weeks to administer booster shots.

The Netherlands happens to be one of the countries lagging behind in this area (they even called the big guns), so with these extra few weeks there is still hope for any upcoming trip you’re planning. 🤞🏼 

State of the vaccine 

As of this week, more than half a million people in the Netherlands have received their booster shots against the coronavirus.

That’s a 174,000 increase in booster shot vaccinations compared to last week, according to RTL Nieuws.

What do you think of these new travel measures? Let us know in the comments!

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