FYI: qr code issuance tightened

Olly, could please tell us which town/state is requiring a QR code or a rapid antigen test from you for indoor dining.

In most of Germany - Bavaria for example - the 2G rule is in effect for entering restaurants. Lindau (Bavaria) is on Lake Constance but should be following 2G, which requires only proof of vaccination - your CDC card - and of course your passport and mask.

If you are looking for a seat in a Baden-Wuerttemberg restaurant, B-W 2G+ rules put the bar higher; they require digital, scannable proof of a negative test in addition to vaccination. Some B-W restaurants might recognize the CDC card in lieu of the QR since the QR is not legally obtainable by foreign visitors like you and thus a totally discriminatory and unreasonable rule. But you still need a test result in B-W.

In Baden-Württemberg, people who have had boosters, are exempt from the test obligation of 2G+. This also applies to people whose second vaccination was less than six months ago.

I might try crossing the border to Switzerland on Monday, and if I am
able to get a QR code there, I will report back.

My understanding was that the Swiss system was working via online registration, not at pharmacies? You might want to look into that before you take a physical trip over the border. Also note the line on the government website:

If you apply for a Swiss COVID certificate as a tourist, it is valid
for 30 days from issue in Switzerland only. Source.

I have absolutely no idea if this is true or not, but might be worth looking into more, depending on how long the trip to CH would take you.

If you are looking for a seat in a Baden-Wuerttemberg restaurant, B-W 2G+ rules put the bar higher; they require digital, scannable proof of a negative test in addition to vaccination. Some B-W restaurants might recognize the CDC card in lieu of the QR since the QR is not legally obtainable by foreign visitors like you and thus a totally discriminatory and unreasonable rule. But you still need a test result in B-W.

I am indeed in BW, and so far restaurants have been disappointed that I don't have a QR code for vaccination, but they do allow me in with the CDC card. Sample size of 2.

I am indeed in BW, and so far restaurants have been disappointed that
I don't have a QR code for vaccination, but they do allow me in with
the CDC card. Sample size of 2.

You're getting in with the CDC card and a test with documentation. Good. Let's hope other US visitors get waved in too.

Local restaurants in small towns don't serve many US customers, if any, and a CDC card probably comes as a shock to the front-door employees tasked with checking documents, who surely look perplexed at first. But I don't see the point of going out of your way to get a QR code for vaccination just to alleviate their surprise. It SHOULD be adequate.

And if anyone has evidence of a BOOSTER on the CDC card, the need to present proof of testing goes away as well, as Traveler99 pointed out, making the hunt for a QR code even less relevant. Maybe a QR code is a plus for use by Americans in other countries, but in Germany, it hardly seems like a huge deal under the current rules.

Back in August, I had a fair amount of trouble getting into an outdoor concert in Chemnitz with the CDC card. The guy at the gate asked, "How do I know what this is?" After I talked to multiple staff and played the "stupid American" card, the guy finally threw his hands in the air and cleared me to enter.

It would be nice if more countries moved forward with what it sounds like the Swiss are doing, and Belgium already has. Basically for Belgium, you go to a government website, fill out an information form, upload a copy of your passport photo page and a photo of your CDC card or other document, and submit.

Shortly after, you receive a code (They say up to 2 business days, mine was an hour, my Son's in about 20 minutes) that you put into their CovidSafe.be app; and you have a QR Code.

The code is good for 30 days and only works in Belgium (or with someone using the CovidSafe.BE check app)

It made it easy for restaurants and bars, they just scan like they do everyone else, no surprises of having some slip of paper to look at and make a decision, or be perceived as difficult for rejecting a customer.

OP here:. I took my mother to Zurich on Monday Dec 20 to her fly home. While I was in the airport, I stopped at a government kiosk near the train connection area. After a quick look at my CDC card and a Credit card payment of 30 Swiss Francs, they issued me a QR code that works anywhere in the EU.

UPDATE: I stayed in Germany/Switzerland/Liechtenstein for another two weeks. The Swiss QR code was accepted everywhere I went in December of 2021.

Good info, thanks.

I'm just curious if anyone has had any updates/personal experiences on the digitally certifying CDC vax info over the last few weeks. I'm planning travel in Munich and Berlin later this month; despite the tightening QR code issuances are their still possibly some pharmacies that might offer this service?

I'm back in the States now, so I can't say for sure whether things have changed. When I was there, however it wasn't about pharmacies choosing to offer the service or not. In order to issue the QR code, they had to enter your information into a national database. That database was set up to only accept vaccine lot numbers from vaccines that were distributed in germany. The pharmacy where I was tried to issue me a QR code, but the national system wouldn't recognize my Pfizer lot numbers.

Olly, your original post was clear as to why you weren’t able to obtain a QR code. However, I was wondering if this has been the norm everywhere; ie if some pharmacies were willing/able to bypass the issue of the lot # validation (I would think there would be ways around this for non-German EU residents or for German residents who got vaccinated elsewhere). So I was hoping to hear of any accounts from other travelers since mid-December, though I’m not expecting to hear any success stories.

The qr code is issued by the national system, not the pharmacy.. The only way the pharmacist could get around the system would be to randomly guess digits until they found an unclaimed lot#. The one I went to was an old friend of my sister-in-law, who is herself a doctor. Between the two of them, they could not get the system to issue me a QR code.

Yes, that makes sense why they couldn’t do it based on the computer system; but given that there are German residents who get vaccinated outside Germany that are still eligible for the QR code, I was speculating that there would have to be some way around it for them. Oh well.

Just returned from a one-week trip to Germany. Landed in Frankfurt on January 29. We tried several pharmacies in the Frankfurt airport/train station complex, and were told they provided the codes only to Germans, not to Americans. However, when we arrived in Stuttgart, we had no trouble in obtaining the digital COVID certificates from a pharmacy in the downtown shopping district. My daughter (who lives in Stuttgart) thinks perhaps the local pharmacies are more willing to upload the CDC info because of the large U.S. military presence in the region, but that is just our guess. The pharmacist had no trouble uploading the information from our CDC cards, and there was no charge for the service. In Baden-Wurttemberg, you are currently asked to present both your COVID certificate and your ID/passport before entering a museum or restaurant. Also, for the return trip to the U.S., we were able to obtain a free rapid test from one of the many pop-up test centers located in the city center.