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Posted by
11037 posts

It's unclear how foreign tourists, including those from the U.S., would obtain an official green pass or whether documents from their home countries would suffice

A key sentence contained in the link Ken provided.

Posted by
11247 posts

My thoughts are if want our tourism, they will accept our documents. We have got to be able to function again as this dreadful virus persists. I wish the US would require vaccination status for indoor activities. I’d feel safer in Europe right now.

Posted by
2744 posts

Actually even if they want your dollars that doesn’t mean they have to let you do anything once you’re there. See Disney for that model - they charge $125 a day to get into the park and If you fail to plan ahead you may not be able to do much else besides walk around and look at their gift shops

Sadly I think we may become the tourist people don’t want because we are not going to be able to prove to their satisfaction that we have done the right thing. We have too many people who are getting their medical advice from conspiracy theories in social media.

Posted by
26840 posts

There has already been a report of folks being turned away by the Rodin Museum in Paris because they had only CDC cards. I do think those will usually be accepted once kinks are worked out, but the possibility of not being able to get in at a particular place is going to remain unless there's a reliable procedure for converting CDC cards into EU green passes.

Posted by
759 posts

It will all be in the numbers. If the Delta variant really gets ugly things will change in an instant. Right now CDC cards are your ticket to admission (early bird gets the worm) but tomorrow.... it will get interesting (for every scenario that things will be better in terms of 2-4-8 weeks there is one that says the direct opposite). If you have time and money to burn-GO for it and enjoy life. But if time (losing chucks of your vacation time) or money are critical to you then proceed with caution. Remember, no crying in baseball and travel (Tom Hanks). Anyone traveling in 2021 should be prepared to enjoy it all as well as loose it all (without crying).

Posted by
14811 posts

Please keep this in mind. It is not just YOU or your countrypersons who may not be able to get the green pass. It's also many other visitors from non-EU countries---Japan, Australia, Israel, etc, etc, etc. Unless Italy doesn't want any tourists from these countries, alternatives will have to be allowed. Be patient. They'll get to it.

Remember, and I have written this over and over again. When a country comes up with new rules, they are not first thinking of how this will affect people on the Rick Steves' Travel Forum. They are doing these changes with their own people in mind. It's meant to protect their own people from getting and spreading the virus as well as hoping it will encourage many to get vaccinated.

August 6th is stil a week and a half away. A lot of things will probably be worked out by then.

Posted by
500 posts

The "Green pass" is an EU format so passes issued by EU countries will be automatically recognized.

In Italy the health system works on a regional basis, so vaccination databases are held by regional administrations. Green passes are issued linking to a record in a regional database. You get vaccinated, the vaccination is registered in the local database within 48-72 hours, then you can retrieve authomatically the green pass from a web site and print it on your own; there is an official app that scans the QR code and checks the autenticity, if needed. And if you are an Italian resident having on your phone the national IO app, used by several public services, you get the pass on it automatically. The way the system works, it looks unlikely it can be adapted to issue passes to foreign people not registered to the Italian health system.

As difficult as this may appear, remember that the other way round is not better; Italian tourists are not accepted at all now in the USA.

Posted by
1184 posts

The colonel in charge of the American garrison in Italy says that the CDC card will still be accepted in lieu of a green pass after August 5th. He does say there is always the possibility of changes in the future (no surprise). I'm gonna guess he has pretty good sources...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88lIID3nw9I

Posted by
374 posts

I saw a thread about Americans in France being able to get a green pas anyone heard about the same thing happening in Italy?

Posted by
7 posts

@acraven

There will be no way for the EU to convert CDC cards into Green Passes. That is a ridiculous idea. Why would New York for example allow people who weren’t vaccinated or live in the US, to access their QR code system. Everybody is over analyzing this, yes the one museum denied somebody entry to the museum. So what, everything else has pointed to signs that CDC cards are perfectly fine. Why would EU countries allow us access with said card but then release guidence as to not allow them for entering venues within the same country.

Stop being sensationalisitc and use your common sense, everything will be fine.

Posted by
26840 posts

We've already had reports of a few pharmacists in France and Germany and at least two vaccination sites in France taking American's CDC cards and using them to make entries into the local system. I assume that produces an EU-recognized pass.

Therefore, I fail to see why it is impossible that something like that might happen--and on a more organized scale--in some other country. I'm not saying that it will, but it could.

We simply don't know what is going to happen from one day to the next. Which is why I haven't bought a plane ticket since 2019 but also haven't totally given up on 2021.

Posted by
7 posts

I mean if you want to walk into a european pharmacy right now and ask them to falsify information on the basis that you cannot use your CDC card to enter venues (the same thing that gained you entry into the country), go ahead. Just know that it’s currently illegal and the government has not issued guidance on how to do this, nor will they. I’m not sure why you’re so keen on the digital pass when your CDC card will work in 99% of cases.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/italy-vaccination-pass-mandatory/2021/07/22/5248e2ac-eb20-11eb-a2ba-3be31d349258_story.html

QUOTE:

"The Green Pass is a part of the European Union’s digital covid certificate program. In the news conference, neither Draghi nor Speranza made clear how the requirements would apply to tourists from non-E.U. countries. But a health ministry spokesman said that equivalent vaccination certificates, including those from the United States, would be recognized."

Posted by
32173 posts

It looks like France is implementing new rules also.....

https://www.forbes.com/sites/willmcgough/2021/07/26/france-passes-law-requiring-a-heath-pass-to-enter-restaurants-and-public-transit/?sh=2d482c7227fd

France is still working on the details on how they will deal with people who were vaccinated in other countries. The Canadian government has said that they are working with their "international partners" to develop some kind of universal pass, so there may be some kind of a solution by September, when the French rules come into effect. There seems to be some resistance to the concept of a "vaccine passport" so I suspect it will be called something else.

Posted by
495 posts

About CDC certificate and green pass remember some things:
- there is an important issue to privacy details: to automatically accept the CDC certificate and import it into the Green Pass system means that the European Union is acquiring a lot of people details (health status, vaccine status, but even where they live for treacability)
- In several places there isn't a border control between different countries of EU (for example one week ago I went to Austria through Val Pusteria and is present only a sign on the street who says that you are enetering in Austria), so all the Green Pass details are shared between all the European Union countries. All agreements must be taken between EU and non-EU countries and later approved by each country, so everything is slower and more difficult.
- Italy and Italians (like other EU countries) WANT the non-EU tourists back, so I believe they are trying to do their best to speed up the process.

Be patient: in 10 days the Green Pass requirement will be operative, so at that point probably we can better know what to do.

Posted by
304 posts

@ricky: Being picky: the Green Pass details are not shared among countries. The only thing in the Green Pass is an assertion that the given named individual has been vaccinated, tested negative, or recovered (with the pertinent details. There is no access via the Green Pass back to any individual's medical records. I've dug through the actual technical specifications for how the Green Pass gets generated and validated (https://ec.europa.eu/health/ehealth/covid-19_en).

Posted by
167 posts

There are reports on this forum of German pharmacies issuing EU green passes on presentation of vaccination proof from overseas. As they are not linked to an EU database (they care about privacy over there) this could be true, a kind of 'translation' effort like your IDP (remember to get one if you rent a car). There are also offers in some countries such as Croatia to vaccinate anyone who wants to get vaccinated, so maybe a local shot could get you a local EU document. But you need proof of vaccination to enter Croatia.... Canada is "in discussions about vaccine passports" and seems not to want us to travel to Europe or Europeans to come to us until September. Vaccinated Americans are welcome in Canada after August 9th, I think. Come on up. Most signs are in English.

Posted by
1 posts

First time poster here headed to Tuscany on the 6th. I found these forums so helpful throughout my planning that I figured I'd pay it back a little. I've been emailing wineries, cathedrals, museums and everywhere else were planning to go to inquire if a CDC card and our passports would suffice once the new rules are enacted and everyone thus far has said that will be enough including the Duomo in Siena. While in Florence we'll be using a highly rated art historian for two tours through the Uffizi and other sites and he feels quite confident as well. You're not in till you're in but I'm feeling better than I was last Thursday about what these restrictions mean for a family of fully vaccinated Americans.

Posted by
286 posts

To add another data point to what Austin shared above, Osteria Francescana responded and told me our CDC cards or "whatever proof you have" will be sufficient for our reservation in a few weeks.