Dealing with the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health

It may want the international code for the US which is 01 xxx xx xxxx

Thanks Frank but it wouldn’t take that either. It seems Switzerland isn’t accommodating a three digit area code from the US.

Try +1 23 456 78 910

Edit: I just looked at the form. I entered my phone with no spaces at all (+12345678910) and it automatically formatted it to read +1 234-567-8910 and accepted that.

Lola! BINGO!!! That worked. Thank you so much

I guess I’ll find out when I arrive if they will accept my handwritten name on my CDC card.

Good luck!!! If you get a chance, please let us know how things go. Sounds like you'll be one of the first to enter from the US.

For anyone wondering what this is, it’s a form to fill out for contact tracing on the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH). I entered basic information and it generated an email with a QR code which I must show upon arrival to the “cantonal authority” whomever that is.

Gparvin if you have a county health office or access to your medical records through your health provider maybe you can see and print out a document that shows your name, date and pertinent vaccine information. You could present this with your CDC card that doesn’t have your name on it.

Everyone I know had to write their own name on the CDC card. Doubt you will have a problem.

Switzerland is divided into cantons like the United States is divided into states. The cantonal authority is the government for the canton. Bern, where the Bernese Oberland is located, is a canton. So is Zürich. There are 26 all together which make up the federation. Each is quite unique. You would show this to the health authority, the border staff, the police, upon request.

A link to the list of the 26 cantons is https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/CantonsofSwitzerland

Confirming what Diane noted, everyone I know has a handwritten CDC card. So far, It's been accepted. We would have heard if they stopped accepting it.

Thank you everyone. Feel much better about the Swiss accepting my handwritten name on my CDC vaccine card!

yup, there's only one CDC card and it's handwritten. Which is quaint and old fashioned and easily faked, but there you go.

I’m operating on 2 types of CDC cards. Our cards, handed to us at UCDavis Medical, were preprinted with our names and DOB. Stickers with Pfizer data and a hand written UCD were added on the day we got our injections. I should know that the vast majority of people in our state and beyond were handed cards with the top part not filled in and asked to go home and write their names in at the top. We volunteered at several mega clinics where 1,000-2,000 people drove through and I was handing out these half filled out cards to them on the spot.

In New York, we have a digital vaccine passport with a QR code called an Excelsior Pass that proves we’ve been vaccinated. In my iPhone, it is located in Apple Wallet. I would think other states have digital passports like New York does. I would hope Swiss cantons accept digital vaccine passports. I don’t know.

There is actually a digital certificate in California too. We have ours on our phones as well as printed copies of the QR code’s as well as the CDC card. We didn’t fill out our own names, Riverside county filled in names and DObs. There is a state website you input your info and get a link to get the digital certificate

cchapin100,

Boy am I glad you chimed in! I had no idea CA. offerred anything to verify vaccine status but I found it thanks to you. I now have an email with the QR code saved on my phone along with a hard copy. Thank you so much