New protocol to travel to Europe: now they analyze including the third dose to be able to enter

The European Union studies incorporating the booster dose of vaccines against Covid-19 in their recommendations to travel to and from any of the 27 countries that make it up.

Clarion was able to learn, exclusively, that there is a proposal from the European Commission to take into account additional doses, also called boosters, when recommending measures to the Member States that allow or restrict the mobility of people to try to reduce the spread of the coronavirus in this third year of the pandemic.

Considering booster doses “is not part of the current recommendation”, they confirm to Clarion sources from the Council of the European Union.

“Currently, the complete vaccination schedule in the recommendation refers to the initial schedule, that is, at two doses of the vaccines that require it or a dose of Janssen (single-dose serum)”, they clarify.

But they add:This recommendation is under review. The European Commission introduced a proposal to review it, to start reflecting the third dose as well, but that process is ongoing. For the time being, the last dose is considered to be the second (or monodose) of the initial regimen. At no time does it refer to additional doses.”

Argentina, off the list

In its last review of the epidemiological situation in the different countries, the European Union eliminated Argentina from the list of countries from which it can be travel without restrictions.

“Following a review under the recommendation on the gradual lifting of temporary restrictions on non-essential travel to the European Union, the Council updated the list of countries, special administrative regions and other territorial entities and authorities for which travel restrictions should be lifted. In particular Argentina, Australia and Canada they were removed from the list,” says the European Council statement released on Monday, January 17.

With the new restrictions imposed on Argentina, they can only travel to Europe those who have completed the vaccination schedule, that is, two doses -the last one applied, at least, 14 days before traveling-, of any of the vaccines approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) or by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Those vaccines are those produced by Pfitzer-BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca, Janssen, Sinopharm, Sinovac, Covaxin and Covovax.

What’s more, a PCR test must be presented with a negative result carried out with a maximum of 72 hours before arrival.

The European Council stresses that these are recommendations that do not imply mandatory compliance by the countries that make up the European Union and that each Member State can apply, in addition, its own measures when allowing or not the entry of visitors.

Always check before traveling

“An Argentine who would like to travel to a specific country should always check with the national authorities what are the measures that they apply there because what the European Union adopts is a recommendation. Afterwards, each country is the one that decides how to implement it”, they insist from the European Council.

Spain, for example, admits visitors from third countries – those that do not make up the European free movement area called Schengen – who present “certified with vaccines not authorized by these organisms (EMA / WHO), but the last dose administered must be from one of the licensed vaccines”, they confirm in the Spanish Ministry of Health.

In other words, those Argentines who have received two doses of Sputnik -the Russian serum not yet approved in Europe- and a third booster shot of one of the vaccines accepted by the EMA and the WHO can enter Spain, one of the European countries most affected by the Omicron variant of Sars-Cov-2 and which is experiencing the sixth wave of infections.

Madrid. Correspondent