Finland to issue vaccination passports to people vaccinated outside EU
The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare and the Social Insurance Institution of Finland are preparing the technical implementation and operating model which will allow Finland to issue the EU Covid-19 vaccination certificate to people who have received a coronavirus vaccine approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) in a non-EU country.
In addition, it will be examined whether it is possible to issue the certificate in case of vaccine products that are listed for emergency use by the World Health Organization (WHO).
"People who are staying or living in Finland but who have been vaccinated in non-EU countries may be issued with the EU Covid-19 vaccination certificate at the end of October at the earliest," says the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health.
The EU Covid-19 vaccination certificate has been available to people vaccinated in Finland since 22 June. The EU certificate of a full course of vaccination has also been available to people who have received their first vaccine dose in another EU Member State or in a non-EU country and their second dose in Finland.
In principle, the certificate is issued by the country where the vaccine was administered. If a person has received the doses required for a full course of vaccination in different EU countries, they will receive a certificate of a full vaccine course from the country where the second dose was administered.
List of countries
Digital Covid-19 certificates issued by certain non-EU countries can already be digitally checked in EU Member States.
Currently, such non-EU countries include Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, North Macedonia, San Marino, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine and the Vatican. The number of countries will increase as the EU and different non-EU countries agree on the interoperability of the certificates.
Each EU Member State can decide for itself what kinds of Covid-19 certificates it requires from incoming travellers.