COVID Vaccinations abroad

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Patients should be advised to check the Foreign travel advice – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) website where there is advice on entry requirements for anyone travelling from England to a list of 226 countries. The advice from most countries is that vaccination status needs to be certified by official health authorities from the country that provided the vaccination for incoming passengers.

If your patients are concerned about traveling from England they need to check the guidance at the following website: (COVID-19) Coronavirus restrictions: what you can and cannot do – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) and look for the section on ‘International travel, Travelling internationally from England’ towards the bottom of the web page. Below is the guidance as of today 16 July 2021:

“International travel

Travelling internationally from England

There are no longer any restrictions on leaving England to travel internationally, however to protect public health in the UK and the vaccine rollout, you should not travel to countries or territories on the red or amber lists.

Find out the rules for travelling abroad and returning to England.”

You are correct to code the patient’s record. The guidance on proving a patient’s vaccination status in England is as follows:

“Demonstrating your COVID-19 vaccination status: what it is

(COVID Passport)

Demonstrating your COVID-19 vaccination status allows you to show others that you’ve had a full course of the COVID-19 vaccine when travelling abroad to some countries or territories.

COVID-19 vaccination status is only available if you:

  • have had a full course of the COVID-19 vaccine (a full course is currently 2 doses of any approved vaccine)
  • were vaccinated in England
  • are aged 16 or over”