Will be heading to Europe in the next couple of weeks for a bit of research - best to have an exit strategy.
The EU countries apparently want a digital version of your vaccine record - as I understand it, the app looks up/verifies in the state health department records - produces the EU Digital COVID Certificate-
Assuming that all of the EU countries (I'm interested in France and Spain) will accept whatever certificate you have --- which is the best vendor/product?
Merci/Gracias
john, given that the US gov't cant even access individuals' states records, it doesnt seem possible that a private app could do this, and that foreign gov'ts would negotiate acceptance agreements with multiple vendors. Heck, my state wont even give me my records without a signed paper application.
If you look on the Washington State Department of Health website you'll see they use https://myirmobile.com/ . They also have a lot of international travel info related to Covid.
The EU countries apparently want a digital version of your vaccine
record - as I understand it, the app looks up/verifies in the state
health department records - produces the EU Digital COVID Certificate-
There are several wrong premises in this sentence. :-)
First, "the EU countries" have no common rules on this. Every country decides on this individually, so unfortunately you will have to do the research for each individual country you are heading to, and watch out for any changes in their handling of the procedure.
Secondly, speaking for Germany at least, no, you don't need a digital version of your vaccine record. A paper certificate is totally sufficient. And there is no one app that will work for all of Europe, one of the reasons being that priorities on data privacy differ hugely in EU countries.
Third, no, none of these apps will be able to access state health department records. If you want to use an app, you will need to get your proof of vaccination digitized. Not sure how they do that in France and Spain, but here in Germany, pharmacies will do that for you.
which is the best vendor/product?
There isn't any single "best" product, you'll have to see which apps work in whatever country you are traveling to. For Germany, I wrote a few things on the three relevant apps here. I don't think any of these will work in other EU countries, and vice versa.
Just to add to Anna's information.
Each country offers it's residents the opportunity to document their vaccination, test, or covid recovery information on a digital app, that provides a QR code that indicates to a business or venue whether you are "safe" to be in confined areas, without disclosing private health information. The same can be done by having a printed QR code, so digital is not required.
Within the EU, there is an agreement among the member countries to accept vaccination status from another EU country, and measures were taken to make the various digital systems and QR codes compatible, so a French app or code, will work in Germany.
However, the various countries vary on whether they allow non-residents to obtain a QR code, France does, Italy does not. But most countries do accept the US CDC card as proof, but then again, some, like the Netherlands, do not.
There may be independent apps out there, but a word of warning, the EU countries do not accept, or better stated, can not scan a QR code that is incompatible, like from a third party app, or even the Washington State code, so you either get an EU countries code, or use your CDC card.
Since you are interested in France and Spain, France will issue their Pass Sanitaire to visitors, and you can apply for it online...the last I knew...and have it before you go. If you look through the "France" discussion board, you will find a wealth of information.
