Croatia and Austria are the first countries to set a validity period for the vaccination certificate

While the delta version of COVID-19 has proven to be highly transmissible and continues to profoundly affect countries around the world, governments are trying to find effective measures to help stop the spread of the virus.

Among the measures taken by EU countries to allow travel during the pandemic, while keeping the pandemic situation under control, was the introduction of the EU COVID Digital Certificate.

Although such a document has been released to facilitate the process of travel between countries, the decision of some European countries to impose expiry dates for this travel certificate has made this process even more complicated and even confusing for travelers.

Croatia is the first country to set a maximum validity period for COVID-19 certificates.

The Zagreb government has stressed that all passengers will be barred from entering Croatia unless they test negative for a PCR or antigen assay if more than 210 days have elapsed since passengers received the second dose. of the vaccine, any COVID-19 vaccine approved by the WHO.

Austria has become the second country to follow such a path and has set an expiry date for the EU COVID Digital Certificate. The Austrian authorities have announced that they have set a maximum validity period of 270 days for the vaccination certificate. Therefore, all travelers intending to enter Austria should be aware of the new changes.

Such a decision came after cases of COVID-19 infection in Austria increased in August, while Austrian authorities pointed out that this increase was caused by international visitors and citizens returning to Austria from countries severely affected by virus.

However, it is not yet known whether other countries will follow the example of Croatia and Austria and make such changes for international travel.

Although both countries aim to restrict restrictions on arrivals from territories that have recently reported high rates of COVID-19 infection, both states continue to allow US travelers to enter, despite EU Council recommendations to impose stricter entry rules. for US arrivals, as the latter has been removed from the EU list of countries considered epidemiologically safe in terms of coronavirus.