Italy’s Six Month Vaccine/Booster Requirement

I’m surprised there hasn’t already been a flood of responses. Perhaps many folks with authoritative knowledge will chime in at some point. It looks like current Italian policies are in effect thru March 31, before your planned trip, but maybe not soon enough to make a comfortable decision. The 6 month deadline appears to be aimed at getting non-vaccinated Italians vaccinated, but visitors could get caught up in all this.

I can’t guarantee that I’m seeing this right, but looking at the U.S. Embassy in Rome Website - which, sadly, advises against travel to Italy at the moment (but that’s another story) - it describes the Super Green Pass and the “Basic” Green Pass. That’s their bold and quotation mark indicators, not mine. Super means you’re fully vaccinated, and can eat inside or outside at restaurants, and stay in lodging and ride public transportation. Basic simply means you’ve tested negative, and can get into hairdressers, banks, post offices, and stores. Then it says that the Green Pass, without distinguishing between Super or Basic, is being reduced from 9 months validity to 6 months, effective Feb. 1, 2022 thru March 31, 2022.

My take on it (again, no guarantee) is that the Basic status is now just good for 6 months. I’m interpreting the Embassy Website as by saying Green Pass, it means the basic one, as opposed to the Super Green Pass. So then, Super, meaning vaccinated, is good for 9 months. If that’s correct, it would seem that, come February, you’re still good for 9 months from the date of your last booster shot. And come April 1, 2022, there may be new policies.

Here’s the Website link, for what it’s worth: https://it.usembassy.gov/covid-19-information/ It also says to go to the Italian Ministry of Health’s Website, and provides its link. Unfortunately, other than the words “EU Digital COVID Certificate” and “Green Pass,” everything else on that Website is all in Italian!

The difference between a Green Pass and a Super Green Pass (which is what you need for most things) is not in the length of vaccination validity; it is the same for both. But vaccination is Mandatory for the SGP—-you cannot “test out “ of the requirement.

Beginning February 1 the expiration period will be reduced to 6 months from the date of the last dose, whether original series or booster.

https://italygreenpass.com/faq/

I opened the relevant window, but if it closes, scroll down to Vaccination and Recovery Certificates” and open “ How long is my vaccination valid?”

It seems that, if you’re only as good as 6 months since your most recent shot, then the people who got with the vaccine program as soon as it was available are screwed.

The long-time anti-vaxxers who have survived the Pandemic so far, and are only just now getting around to getting vaccinated, are the ones with the longest (Super) Green Pass status. Good for them. He who hesitates, gets to travel. At the moment.

With Israel now doing second-round boosters for those over 60 or otherwise at risk, some Israelies are potential tourists to Italy, if their timing works out. The rest of us have to check our calendars, and see what happens in the near, or distant future. Thing is, many health experts are saying another booster may not be immediately necessary. Then there are the millions in other countries who haven’t even gotten a first shot, let alone boosters, and that can affect where vaccines are directed.

Here’s the Website link, for what it’s worth: https://it.usembassy.gov/covid-19-information/ It also says to go to the Italian Ministry of Health’s Website, and provides its link. Unfortunately, other than the words “EU Digital COVID Certificate” and “Green Pass,” everything else on that Website is all in Italian!

In the upper right corner you will see an icon in which you can choose EN for English language. I used Chrome as my web browser. Chrome also gave me the option to use Google translate all pages on the site to English. It was automatic from then on.

If you read the Italian Ministry of Health website, you will not see any reference to a 6-month limitation on vaccination certification. I believe the italygreenpass.com website did a sloppy job of reporting the restrictions. Even the US Embassy website says the COVID recovery certification is valid for "6 months" while the Italian Heath Ministry says "180 days."

I'd suggest you have some time to dig more at government websites and perhaps make some contacts with government officials, or wait for more clarification at official websites, since this is relatively recently changed.

Sure enough, upper right corner has IT and EN options. This isn’t the page I was looking at when I hit the link on the embassy Website this weekend. maybe the link is changing, almost as fast as the policies regarding travel requirements. Maybe the strategy should be to keep looking, then look again, and changes will occur. Hopefully for the better!