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How Americans Can Obtain Proof of Vaccination for Travel

Your vaccination card might not be enough. Here's how to make sure you have the documentation you'll need to travel freely in other countries.

By Jason Cochran

June 30, 2021

Last update: July 26, 2021

U.S. President Joe Biden has said he has no interest in creating a federal system for verifying vaccination status. But local and international governments and private business still might want to check your credentials, and their requirements are ever-changing.

For example, the government of the Bahamas has said that only vaccinated travelers may dine indoors . In Abu Dhabi, unvaccinated visitors will be barred from many public spaces. Even on Broadway, Bruce Springsteen has requested that only vaccinated ticket-holders be permitted into the theatre.

But how can you prove you've got your shots? Each place has its own standard.

Here's how to go about voluntarily obtaining acceptable proof.

Paper cards aren't always enough.

The paper record that every vaccinated American is issued might be enough to get by in casual domestic settings. But it's only paper, it's not durable, it's awkwardly sized, and paper documents can be forged. Take a photo of the card and store that on your phone—it's wise to have a backup method for proving your status.

If you lose your card, you must go back to the entity that provided your vaccination. They can usually help you out.

Most places in the United Stats will accept your CDC-issued card, despite its flaws. But for full flexibility, it would behoove you to augment your paper-based proof with a more secure digital format. The dominant digital method of proving your vaccination status is a QR code that can be called up on your smartphone. When scanned, that code uses data from medical institutions to verify that you did indeed receive the shots you say you got.

We're gradually moving toward a system in which one QR code can work everywhere, but we're not there yet. It's still a patchwork, so you may need to obtain multiple versions of proof to satisfy all the checkpoints along the way.

Ask your state immunization authority. 

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention does not retain your vaccination information, so that agency won't issue you a QR code. Instead, each state, territory, and protectorate has its own health office that keeps track of immunization records and will tell you how to get digital proof. 

The first thing to try is asking the organization that administered your dose to begin with. Sometimes, obtaining a QR code is as simple as that.

If that doesn't work, your local government might have the credentials you need. The CDC provides a helpful list of all the state- and regional-level vaccination registries. Go to the official CDC list  to find the right link for your location.

In many cases, states have joined a program that can check residents' names against a vaccination database. Once you verify your identity, the state can issue digital confirmation that you can show to others.

The free QR code you are issued will often be PIN-protected with a code you choose so that it cannot be accidentally accessed.

Generally, you can only get a pass from the state where you got your shot. For example, New York State has its own system, the Excelsior Pass , but a person who got vaccinated in any other state won't show up in the Excelsior database and therefore can't get that pass. 

Fortunately, if a business uses a state-based system that doesn't connect with other systems, that business will often accept a paper vaccination card from out-of-state residents. That's a big reason you should always have your I.D. with you; you might be asked to prove your card belongs to you.

The proof you require depends on the destination.

Places in the United States might accept your flimsy vaccination card as proof, but when you travel to other countries, you have to play by their rules.

Airlines and some of the countries they serve are cooperating to use the free  Travel Pass , which the International Air Transport Association has gotten behind. That may take care of your requirements for many trips. ( Click here for the list of participating Travel Pass airlines.)

Some airlines are using a different system, VeriFLY . That's a free app that validates passengers' backup forms, and it's gaining traction. Both British Airways and American Airlines use VeriFLY at some of its destinations and the country of Malta has also signed up to use the system to approve its tourists' paperwork. 

But the European Union has its own system for citizens to use. If you intend to travel to any of the EU's member states, border agents in a growing number of countries will accept a free EU Digital COVID Certificate (DCC), which began rolling out in force in June 2021. 

There is no central website for obtaining a DCC. Instead, you're expected to obtain one in advance from the government of the first country you will visit. A simple internet search usually uncovers the right government page, but your airline should also be able to tell you where to go to get your DCC.

The process will require a little legwork on your part and you'll probably have to upload an image of your vaccination card—the system is still coming together and execution varies by nation. 

The ultimate goal is for Europe and the United States to decide on validation systems that can talk to each other, but that hasn't happened yet. Until then, it's up to you to apply for a DCC from your destination. Tourists are all part of the plan, so your request is likely to be approved as long as you show the proof you have.

It's crucial that you always check with your destination country from home to see what they will demand from you when you arrive. Usually, the nation's official tourism website or embassy will have a page that explains the documentation that's expected and how to obtain it.

Ask the business where you got your shots.

The jumble of multiple, localized pass systems has prompted the formation of the Vaccination Credential Initiative, a coalition of some 300 providers (including dozens of insurers and health care providers) to come up with a single, widely accepted format for validation called the SMART Health Card.

Walmart vaccination sites , for example, use the SMART Health Card standard, and if you received your shots there, you'll now be in that system.

Walmart and Sam’s Club are also providing digital access to vaccine records through the  Health Pass by Clear  and the  CommonHealth  and  CommonPass  apps from Geneva-based nonprofit the Commons Project Foundation. (Health Pass by Clear is useful for domestic attractions and sporting events but isn't accepted at international borders.)

Patients can also recover digital records from CVS and Walgreens by contacting those providers directly, but it's up to you to make sure the format of the proof works for the destinations you want to visit.

Yes, it's a mishmash of systems and you might wind up holding a full house of multiple QR codes from several sources. That's the result of a federal government that is reticent to get into the practice of retaining your health info.

Think of it this way: Our grandparents usually had to plan months ahead to obtain visas for the countries they wanted to visit. Because of the European Union and other diplomatic agreements, most travelers haven't had to deal with that burden often in their lifetimes.

But now it's back to an old global reality. Covid-19 vaccination QR codes are a return of the kind of bureaucracy that often must precede the rewards of travel.

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Accessing My Vaccination Certificate and Vaccination Certificate QR Code in VAMS

Frequently asked questions, when is my vaccination certificate available.

  • A vaccination certificate is created in VAMS after a healthcare professional logs a COVID-19 vaccine dose for a recipient in VAMS.
  • VAMS automatically updates vaccination certificates if healthcare professionals make applicable edits to the recipient vaccination records in VAMS.

What is in my vaccination certificate?

  • The vaccination certificate will include information about the date(s) of COVID-19 vaccine administration, vaccine manufacturer, lot number, and clinic (vaccine administration site) name.
  • The recipient’s vaccination certificate only reflects the COVID-19 vaccination dose(s) documented in VAMS.

How can I use my vaccination certificate?

  • After the recipient receives the required number of COVID-19 vaccine dose(s) to complete the vaccination schedule, the certificate can serve as a recipient’s COVID-19 vaccination record documented in VAMS.
  • Recipients can access their vaccination certificate in the Recipient Portal at any time.

How to View Your Vaccine Certificate and Generate Your Vaccines Certificate QR Code

View my vaccination certificate.

  • If you selected VAMS Recipient Login , enter the email and password associated with your VAMS Recipient Account.
  • If you selected Proceed as Guest , select Manage Appointments . Enter all required information to identify your Recipient Profile. A Confirmation Code will be sent to your preferred method of contact. Enter this Confirmation Code into the blank field in the Verification Code pop-up window. Click Verify .
  • Within the Recipient Portal, select the My Appointments tab at the top of the screen.
  • Click the blue hyperlinked text, View Your Vaccination Certificate .
  • A pop-up window will display your Certificate of COVID-19 Vaccination.

Generate my vaccination certificate QR code

  • From the pop-up window with your Certificate of COVID-19 Vaccination, select Generate QR Code .
  • The PIN needs to be 6–8 alphanumeric characters.
  • Click Save .
  • VAMS will return you to your Recipient Portal.
  • To print the QR code, select Print , located under the QR code.
  • To change the pin for accessing your vaccination certificate, select Change QR Code PIN . Follow the same steps as you would to initially set up your QR Code PIN.
  • When scanned by an external user, the QR code will generate a link to an external site. The page will prompt you to enter your QR Code PIN. Enter your PIN and click Continue . Once you enter your PIN, vaccination details will display.

Exit Notification / Disclaimer Policy

  • The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) cannot attest to the accuracy of a non-federal website.
  • Linking to a non-federal website does not constitute an endorsement by CDC or any of its employees of the sponsors or the information and products presented on the website.
  • You will be subject to the destination website's privacy policy when you follow the link.
  • CDC is not responsible for Section 508 compliance (accessibility) on other federal or private website.

Update January 10, 2024

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The Administration will end the COVID-19 vaccine requirements for international air travelers at the end of the day on May 11, the same day that the COVID-19 public health emergency ends. This means starting May 12, noncitizen nonimmigrant air passengers will no longer need to show proof of being fully vaccinated with an accepted COVID-19 vaccine to board a flight to the United States. CDC’s Amended Order Implementing Presidential Proclamation on Safe Resumption of Global Travel During the COVID-19 Pandemic will no longer be in effect when the Presidential Proclamation Advancing the Safe Resumption of Global Travel During the COVID-19 Pandemic is revoked .

Please see: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/05/01/the-biden-administration-will-end-covid-19-vaccination-requirements-for-federal-employees-contractors-international-travelers-head-start-educators-and-cms-certified-facilities/

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How to Prove You're Vaccinated for COVID-19

You may need to prove your vaccination status for travel or work, or to attend an event. Paper credentials usually work, but a new crop of digital verification apps is adding confusion.

Collage of images related to the COVID-19 vaccine

Retired Tennessee farmer Tom Anderson, 75, and his wife Barbara, 65, flew to Egypt in September to celebrate their 25 th wedding anniversary on a Nile River cruise. After their plane arrived in Cairo, an Egyptian official demanded to see electronic proof of COVID-19 vaccination shown in a QR code.

“We had our actual (CDC) card, and they said, ‘Where are your QR codes?’” Barbara recalls. “And we said, ‘We don’t know what you are talking about.’”

Adds Tom: “We tried our best to reason with them, and they said, ‘No, you have to have the QR code.’”

Egyptian officials put them back on the next flight out en route to Memphis, where they arrived after 57 hours total for the round-trip travel. Apparently, the Egyptian rules had changed since the Andersons had prepared their paperwork, requiring electronic proof of vaccination.

Their story is an extreme one, but it shows how fluid and inconsistent the task of proving your vaccination status can be in a world where that particular piece of information is becoming increasingly important.

Depending on where you live, you may have to show that you are inoculated to keep your job, eat in a restaurant, attend a concert or ball game, work out in a gym, or travel. So it pays to have your credential at the ready.

The most obvious way to do this is with the CDC vaccination card that vaccine providers typically give out when you get your shot. But many employers and venues are encouraging workers and consumers to use digital verification apps, and some consumers may prefer not to carry their card everywhere, thus the appeal of a digital vaccine “passport” on your cell phone.

However, electronically answering what is basically a simple yes-or-no question has become surprisingly controversial, confusing, and time consuming. That’s because the rules vary by country and by state, with some states refusing to issue or even allow such a credential. Layered on top of that, different firms offer their own versions of COVID-19 vaccination passports.

“The U.S. is a mess, because there isn’t a centralized approach,” says Darren Toh, CEO of AOKpass, a Singapore-based company working with some American companies to verify that employees are vaccinated, as well as with some airlines. 

“It’s baffling,” he continues. “The United States seems to be this unique bundle of chaotic people moving at different speeds and in different directions. You can juxtapose it with the EU response, which is quite centralized.”

Some U.S. cities, including New York and Los Angeles, are requiring vaccination for most indoor venues, but in most of the country, figuring out when you might need proof of vaccination is a confusing guessing game. For example, among amusement parks in southern California, Disneyland does not require a vaccine credential or recent COVID-19 tests, but Universal Studios Hollywood , 35 miles to the north, does.

“We’re stuck with this fractured, uneven, confusing system of ad hoc vaccine certifications, and we just have to struggle with it,” says Josh Michaud, PhD, the associate director for global health policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation. “Depending on where you live in the United States, you may have rules against using digital vaccine certifications . . . mostly Republican, mostly conservative states.”

“But for the other states, where it is an option, you do face a slew of different potential options,” he continues. “Once you explain all of that, you basically have confused the hell out of people.”

Given this reality, here are some insights on how to sort through the choices consumers have in order to prove that they are indeed vaccinated.

How to Prove You're Vaccinated

Having trouble sorting through vaccine verification options? Jump to our situation-by-situation guide , below.

Good Ol' Paper

First the good news: Your paper CDC vaccination card works in most places, whether you want to attend a basketball game, go to a concert, or visit a museum. 

Chris Beyrer, MD, MPH, a professor of public health and human rights at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, carries his paper card in his wallet everywhere but acknowledges that relying on that document alone has downsides. “If you lose it or it’s destroyed, there isn’t necessarily an easy way to get it back,” he says.

Others might not want to carry that pesky card everywhere. Fortunately, a photo of both sides of the CDC card, kept on your phone or printed out, is typically accepted as evidence of vaccination. “In this case, more is more—as many forms of documentation as you can, the better,” Beyrer says.

Digital Proof

At present, about 150 million Americans can also access digital proofs of their COVID-19 vaccinations , according to Vaccination Credential Initiative (VCI), a coalition of public and private organizations working on enabling standards for SMART Health Cards —a fancy-sounding term for digital medical records such as vaccine histories. (The records can also be printed out.) Its members include electronic health records companies Epic and Cerner, as well as Microsoft.

“A paper CDC card, as well as a photocopy, is not easily verifiable, can be misplaced, and is subject to forgery,” says Brian Anderson , MD, a VCI co-founder and chief digital health physician at MITRE , a government contractor that works on federally funded research. “Digital vaccination verification tools—like SMART Health Cards—contain a machine-readable QR code that provides for verification, is resistant to forgery, and can be easily re-obtained if a paper or digital copy is lost.”

Yet things become confusing when you try to figure out which digital credential you should use. Unlike a U.S. passport, which is the same for all Americans, a digital credential can come from one of many state or local entities, or dozens of private companies. But unlike regular passports, the vaccination credentials are free to individuals, with government or businesses bearing the cost.

Your first step should be to check whether your state issues COVID-19 vaccination credentials or works with an outside company. Among the states with their own vaccination verifications are New York and California , where 7.5 million residents had downloaded a SMART Health Card QR code as of early November, according to the California Department of Public Health. 

VCI currently lists eight states as issuing their own SMART Health Cards. In theory, any state can issue electronic proof of your vaccination, or allow an outside company to do so, because all U.S. states maintain their own vaccine registries, as do New York City; Washington, D.C.; and San Antonio. The CDC maintains a list of links and contacts for these registries , known as Immunization Information Systems.

Los Angeles County and New York City (via Google Play or the Apple Store ) also allow the vaccinated to download a credential that they sponsor.

“I’m not sure what the point of this app really is,” one user wrote in a Google Play store review of the NYC COVID Safe app. “You take a picture of your vaccine card and store it locally? You might as well just create a photo directory for your vaccine card. It’s exactly the same thing.” Spokespeople for the mayors’ offices in Los Angeles and New York did not respond to requests for comment.

Apple iPhone users with iOS 15.1 can also download verifiable credentials (as opposed to a simple photo of a vaccine card) to their Wallet or Health app. Google offers a similar feature for Android devices .

As if things were not confusing enough, MyIR, an app working with seven states—Arizona, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Dakota, West Virginia, Washington, and West Virginia, as well as Washington, D.C.—announced in late October that digital vaccine credentials were being temporarily suspended (PDF). (Residents of these states can still obtain other digital vaccine credentials.) The problem is that MyIR aggregates data from various states and providers rather than directly on the behalf of each, according to VCI, the group working on standards for SMART Health Cards.

“Chaos is the right word,” says Mike Popovich, CEO of STChealth, which operates MyIR. “There seems to be a push for who controls the credentialing space, which I suppose is natural.”

Growing Pains

Once you figure out which options are available in your state, it may take just a few minutes to get set up, but it is also possible that you may have to invest a bit of time to get your digital vaccination certification. State websites typically ask for name, date of birth, and mobile phone number or email address, but each system has its own quirks. 

For example, North Carolina’s COVID-19 Vaccine Portal tells users to click ‘Forgot Your Username’ the first time they are accessing the system.

My own initial effort to download New York State’s Excelsior Pass failed, and the website directed me to call the pharmacy where I received my vaccinations. After two calls to CVS and 15 minutes on hold I was able to update the phone number they had on file. Then I logged back in to the Excelsior site and got an error message: “It seems like we’re having some issues behind the scenes preventing us from helping you.” I tried again some hours later and somehow it then worked. 

Speaking in general about vaccine certification efforts, JP Pollak, co-founder of the Commons Project , a nonprofit group whose projects include a vaccination credential you can download via Apple’s App Store or Google Play , says, “We’re experiencing a lot of expected growing pains.”

Ramin Bastani, CEO of Healthvana , which provides digital COVID-19 credentials for Los Angeles County, says tiny differences in data can clog up the system. “It’s not a perfect process,” he says. “You may have registered in one particular area, and your name is James, but then somewhere else, you registered your name as Jim for that second shot. So those have to actually be matched in some way.”

I encountered more roadblocks when I tried to obtain additional proof of my COVID-19 vaccinations.

Electronic health records system Epic offers vaccination credentials to 64 million Americans through its MyChart system, and that number is set to raise to 100 million next year, according to implementation executive Nick Frenzer. But when I logged on to my account, MyChart showed just one of my two vaccinations. Frenzer later said there was a mismatch between the New York State registry and my healthcare provider’s record.

CVS , Walmart , and other large pharmacy chains also offer digital records from their websites. When I tried to download my vaccination record via the CVS website, I received a “PM2 error” message related to verifying my identity. Rather than invest time in untangling the problem, I gave up.

Controversy Over COVID-19 Passports

Adding to the confusion is the politicization of COVID-19 vaccinations and documentation, with 21 states, including Florida and Texas, banning vaccine passports altogether, according to the National Academy for State Health Policy, which maintains a map showing various state mandates and other COVID-related details .

“We are opposed to the idea of a national Green Pass on principle,” says Christina Pushaw, press secretary for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. “COVID-19 vaccination records are private medical information. Proof of COVID-19 vaccination should not be required to participate in society, and the Green Pass creates a two-tiered society that we do not want to see in Florida.”

Green Pass is a system of vaccine credentials first used in Israel and then adopted in Europe and other countries. 

The Florida governor’s office’s stance mirrors the sentiments of many Americans. For example, among Texans, 39 percent in August were strongly opposed to a vaccine passport, with only 33 percent strongly supporting the idea, according to a University of Texas at Austin poll . Some companies involved in COVID-19 vaccination documentation say privately that they have been subject to harassment or threats.

Nonetheless, residents of Florida, Texas, and other states that have banned vaccine passports may still have to prove their status outside their home states, especially when visiting cities with strict vaccine mandates for many public spaces. For example, anyone wanting to visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City must either show a CDC paper vaccine card or photo of it, New York’s Excelsior Pass, a New York City vaccination record or COVID-19 app, or an official record from outside New York.

What about those without proof of vaccine? “Visitors who cannot display their proof of vaccination are welcome to enjoy the Museum’s virtual offerings,” the museum says . 

If you live in a state that does not offer digital credentials, see whether your pharmacy or electronic health system linked to your healthcare provider can provide you with a digital proof. Otherwise, carry your paper card when needed.

Convenience for Whom?

The simplest proof of vaccination—the paper CDC certificate—requires the least effort for the individual and may offer the most privacy. “Whoever is more concerned about privacy, going for the option that doesn’t require any scanning of a QR code is better,” says Lucy Yang, community director of the COVID Credentials Initiative . “But from a public health perspective, the options that don’t require verifications of a digitally signed credential are more prone to fraud.”

The cyber security firm Check Point has reported that prices for fake CDC cards have soared to as much as $200 each by early fall amid a boom in demand with the arrival of various vaccine mandates. States such as New York have warned against the use of fraudulent cards, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection has seized shipments of fake cards .

Companies that must verify many credentials often prefer digital COVID-19 vaccine certificates because they are quicker to scan. Some venues, including those used by sports teams such as the Las Vegas Raiders, Seattle Seahawks, Nashville Predators, and Golden State Warriors, have partnered with CLEAR —the publicly traded, for-profit company whose security screening stations you may have noticed in airport terminals. CLEAR is also accepted to prove COVID-19 vaccination status to enter Hawaii .

CLEAR does not have direct access to state vaccination registries, so they ask people to either upload their CDC card and information, scan QR codes issued by the states, or link to a vaccine provider or pharmacy that works with them.

Privacy and Other Concerns

Many healthcare experts think that a unified national system of COVID-19 vaccination credentials akin to the European Union’s Green Pass or similar programs in some Asian countries would be far easier and less confusing. “I think these kinds of small, ad-hoc approaches are likely fraught with problems,” says Beyrer at Johns Hopkins. “This is such a challenge, the way the country is divided among these political lines.”

With so many private companies and government agencies hastily developing digital vaccine credentials, some experts fear these systems will incorporate security and privacy vulnerabilities. What’s more, vaccine apps are typically not covered by federal laws restricting the release of medical information. 

“Paper proof of vaccination raises fewer concerns, as does a digital photo of a paper card displayed on a phone screen,” the Electronic Frontier Foundation wrote in an August article . “Of much greater concern are scannable vaccination credentials, which might be used to track people’s physical movements through doors and across time.”

Kaliya Young, an expert on digital identity verification working on the COVID Credentials Initiative, is also concerned that the rush to digitize important documents—including health cards and electronic driver’s licenses—will result in faulty designs.

“I’m happy about the digitization—just not happy about the failure to be discerning in those choices pushed by health IT people who don’t care about privacy pushing static QR codes like SMART Health Cards,” she says. Young says static QR codes can easily be copied by anyone who has access to them, and perhaps used by someone who is not the owner. “We will be stuck with bad systems that have baked within them privacy-infringing defaults.” 

The Electronic Frontier Foundation experts are also concerned that a company such as CLEAR could combine vaccination details with other personal information. “There is no logical limit to how centralized digital identifications like those created by CLEAR might spread into our lives by facilitating proof of vaccination, and with it new vectors for tracking our movements and activities,” the EFF team wrote in the August article mentioned above.

CLEAR spokesman Ken Lisaius says, “CLEAR does not sell or rent member information. Safety and security are at the heart of everything CLEAR does.”

One company, iProov, has developed a vaccine credential that relies on facial recognition technology . “Without it, a visitor would have to present a vaccine card and a form of ID, and wait while the door-person squints at them to see if the names match, and then at the person to see if they match the photo ID, a process that takes time and effort for everyone,” says Andrew Bud, iProov’s founder and CEO. “With face verification, they just present their card or QR code to the camera, look at it for an instant, and then walk on through.”

Privacy advocates have often expressed concerns about facial recognition, but to date the iProov vaccination verification system is not being used in the U.S., Bud said, and would be used only on a voluntary basis in any case.

So What Should You Do?

The bottom line is that sorting through COVID-19 vaccination credentials involves some time and hassle. Find out whether you can get a vaccine credential through your state, the pharmacy or clinic that administered the vaccination, or your electronic health record system. Then find out what proof businesses require where you live, including activities such as going to the movies, visiting a museum exhibition, or traveling. And keep in mind that the rules today may be different next week. 

Airline travel : Airlines must verify their passengers’ vaccination status for international routes, and different carriers offer the option of their own preferred digital verifications. American Airlines uses the VeriFLY app for this list of countries and Delta offers Delta FlyReady . United has its Travel-Ready Center . But you can usually use your paper CDC card for travel, as I have for the past half-year without issue.

The CDC guidelines for international travel start with the following warning: “Do not travel internationally until you are fully vaccinated.”

Employer verification : If your employer requires proof of vaccination, it will detail which documents they accept and how to submit them. Ford Motor Co., which recently announced a vaccine mandate for most of its workers, is collecting digital scans or photos of the CDC card, a spokeswoman said. Federal workers can submit a wider variety of documentation . 

Venues : As highlighted throughout this article, different museums, concert halls, and other venues have different rules, and may sometimes be mandated by local rules in cities such as New York or Los Angeles. For example, the Getty Villa Museum and Getty Center in the Los Angeles area require vaccination proof or negative test and advance reservations ; the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland does not ask for vaccination proof but requires advance online ticket purchase . The buildings of the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historical Park in Atlanta are temporarily closed because of COVID-19.

“At this point it’s important for people to check with destinations well in advance to see what sort of proof is required,” says Pollak at the Commons Project. “We’re seeing requirements ranging from paper CDC cards to pictures of CDC cards to requirements for specific apps or QR code formats.”

Lining up your vaccine credentials is worth the effort because two years into the pandemic, COVID-19 is not expected to disappear overnight.

“I think that there’s going to be an ongoing need for this for quite a while as the pandemic is nowhere close to being done,” says Michaud at the Kaiser Family Foundation. “It might be something that we have to contend with here in the United States, at least for another year or so. And depending on circumstances, maybe even longer.”

Adam Tanner

Adam Tanner is a Consumer Reports contributing editor. He is also the author of “Our Bodies, Our Data: How Companies Make Billions Selling Our Medical Records” and an associate at Harvard's Institute for Quantitative Social Science. 

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Everything travelers need to know about vaccine passports

What they are, where they’re already in use — and why you may need one for travel soon.

Since the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, health and travel officials alike have pointed to vaccinations as the route back to unrestricted travel. Now that vaccinations are picking up in the United States, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is issuing thousands of vaccination cards daily, apps that aim to verify travelers’ inoculations are quickly rolling out — with some already being used by airlines.

But what is a vaccine passport, and how will it be utilized for a safe return to travel? Here’s what experts say the travel programs aim to accomplish, what their limitations are and where they are already being used.

Is driving still safer than flying if you’re vaccinated? This is what 6 experts say.

What is a vaccine passport?

Vaccine passports for the purpose of travel are primarily taking shape as free mobile apps where international travelers upload their proof of a vaccination as well as any necessary coronavirus test results or other health waivers. The goal is to digitize individual countries’ paper vaccination certificates into internationally recognized passes for travel. A few options for vaccine passports exist for Americans so far, and other countries and regions have also developed, or are in the process of developing, their own.

CommonPass , created by the nonprofit Commons Project, has been in use internationally for coronavirus test results since October. The program operates on iOS and Android devices, functioning as a scannable QR code that holds a passenger’s test data or vaccine documentation, as well as their booked travel. The program, which is still in trial use through participating airlines and governments, is available for use only with a participating airline’s invitation code.

‘Vaccine passports’ are on the way, but developing them won’t be easy

An app in development by the International Air Transport Association, the IATA Travel Pass , is slated to be available for Apple users in mid-April and will be rolled out to Android users by the end of that month, according to the IATA. A Contactless Travel Pass portion of the app aims to enable passengers to create a “digital passport,” upload official test and vaccination certificates, verify that they are sufficient for their itinerary, and then share those certificates with airlines. The IATA app will also provide travelers with a registry of health requirements and testing/vaccination centers in their area.

IBM has also rolled out its own digital vaccination pass, IBM Digital Health Pass , which has a focus on returning to the workplace and other businesses as well as potential travel scenarios.

Where are vaccine passports already in use?

While some people are fully vaccinated and some governments are accepting travelers with proof of vaccination, vaccine passport apps are not an option for everyone. Only some travelers can use vaccine passports right now — mainly for their test results and health waivers on certain airline routes that permit them as a standard.

Since December, passengers have been using CommonPass for testing verification on select flights out of New York, Boston, London , and Hong Kong with United, JetBlue, Lufthansa, Swiss International and Virgin Atlantic. Those options are in addition to previous trial routes for United and Cathay Pacific Flights to London, New York, Hong Kong and Singapore . JetBlue started allowing passengers from Boston to Aruba to use the digital pass in mid-March, with plans to expand it to departure cities throughout the airline’s network.

The IATA’s Health Pass, meanwhile, recently garnered trial use on several international air carriers, including Emirates, Copa, Malaysia Airlines and Singapore Airlines. So far, 21 airlines have signed up for the pass, and two — Singapore Airlines and Qatar Airways — have launched full pilots.

The argument against vaccine passports is growing

Outside of those privately developed apps, several countries and regions are creating their own vaccine passports. Malaysia’s Immunitee Health Passport is now accepted by Singapore for entry, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced a proposal at the beginning of March for a privacy-friendly vaccine passport for use in Europe. Officials in the European Union hope “digital green certificates” will be ready by June to allow for summer travel. Travelers would use the pass to show they had been vaccinated, recovered from the virus or tested negative.

We'll present this month a legislative proposal for a Digital Green Pass. The aim is to provide: •Proof that a person has been vaccinated •Results of tests for those who couldn’t get a vaccine yet •Info on COVID19 recovery It will respect data protection, security & privacy — Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) March 1, 2021

CommonPass has put a similar emphasis on protecting travelers’ personal information, said Thomas Crampton, spokesman for the Commons Project.

“When vaccination does take place, the architecture is such that people will now be able to gather, manage and share their vaccination status, as well as their testing status, in a privacy-protecting matter,” Crampton said. The implementation of the app is up to airlines and local governments requiring test results or vaccinations for travel.

Some vaccine passports are being developed for everyday use, not just travel. New York’s Excelsior Pass, which launches this week, will be accepted at sports, event, arts and entertainment venues, USA Today reported . It is built on IBM’s platform. That type of certificate has gotten some pushback, including from Florida’s governor, who said he would ban such a requirement.

Why the delays?

The challenge with any broader rollouts of vaccine passports, the IATA has said, is the global inconsistency in requirements for health passes.

“There is no standard in place in terms of what the key elements of a certificate would look like nor even the digitalization of a certificate … from one country to another, and no one is following any level of consistency whatsoever,” Nick Careen, a senior vice president at the IATA, recently told The Points Guy . “The first step is to work with our two regulators. And that is ongoing work.”

Careen said he expects that work, and a World Health Organization decision on digital certificate standards, to be completed by May.

The Washington Post reported this week that the Biden administration is working with private companies to develop a standardized way for people to demonstrate their vaccination status. But the effort is fraught with challenges, and at least 17 passport initiatives are in the works, the story said.

We may not have to wear masks on planes forever. But should we?

What do vaccine passports mean for you?

A vaccine passport, experts note, is not an “immunity passport.” It is still unclear how long immunity lasts after recovering from the virus or after receiving a vaccine, and it is also unclear whether vaccinated people can carry and spread the virus without experiencing symptoms themselves.

Shira Doron, a hospital epidemiologist at Tufts Medical Center in Boston, said a majority of people will need to be vaccinated for herd immunity to be achieved.

“Immunity itself is not a means for travel with an assumption you can’t [spread] the virus,” Doron said. “With a vaccine passport, we still actually don’t know once you’re vaccinated, whether you can get into an asymptomatic carrier state and transmit it just as easily as someone not vaccinated. … We may find out that people who are vaccinated may still be able to carry the disease in their airways.”

The Daily 202: The political wars over vaccine passports are just getting started

What are the objections?

Beyond warnings that vaccinated people could transmit the coronavirus, experts have also argued that requiring vaccine passports could create an unethical global incentive for inoculating travelers before prioritizing doses for at-risk populations in poorer countries with less access to vaccinations. The WHO has recommended against mandating vaccine passports for entry for that reason: Doctors have warned that 1 in 4 nations will not see any coronavirus vaccinations this year.

Quentin Ariès, Dan Diamond, Rick Noack, Isaac Stanley-Becker and Lena H. Sun contributed to this report.

Travel during the pandemic:

Tips: Advice column | Coronavirus testing | Sanitizing your hotel | Updating documents

Flying: Pandemic packing | Airport protocol | Staying healthy on planes | Fly or drive? | Layovers

Road trips: Tips | Rental cars | Best snacks | Long-haul trains | Rest stops | Cross-country drive

Destinations: Hawaii | Puerto Rico | Private islands | 10 covid-free spots | Caribbean | Mexico

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What to Know About Testing and Vaccine Requirements for Travel

Do you need to be vaccinated or have a negative Covid-19 test for your next trip? Check this guide before traveling domestically or abroad.

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travel vaccination certificate

By Concepción de León

As vaccinations ramp up and regulations loosen for people in the United States, many are planning travel for summer and beyond, with experts predicting that July 4 will be the biggest travel weekend since the beginning of the pandemic.

But with regulations shifting, people might have questions about testing or vaccination requirements for their trips. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently eased travel recommendations to more than 100 countries. On June 18, the European Union added the United States to its “safe list” of countries , meaning that both vaccinated and unvaccinated American travelers should now be able to visit the 27 member countries, but these member states are allowed to set their own requirements and restrictions for travelers.

In the United States, the C.D.C. has advised that vaccinated people no longer need to wear masks in most places and released new travel guidelines that said domestic travel is safe for them. But travelers must take note of local advice and regulations, as these can vary state by state.

Here’s everything you need to consider about testing and vaccinations before you travel within the U.S. or internationally.

Are there testing and vaccination requirements for domestic travel?

For most places, no. You do not need to be vaccinated for any domestic travel. Hawaii is the only state that requires a negative test for travel.

In Hawaii, the test must be administered within 72 hours of arrival and the results uploaded to its Safe Travel platform to avoid a mandatory quarantine when entering the state.

Alternatively in Hawaii, you can also provide proof that you’ve recovered from Covid-19 in the past 90 days, including both a positive test result and a letter from a doctor clearing you to travel.

The state’s governor, David Ige, said this month that people who received their vaccination in the state of Hawaii may bypass testing and quarantine requirements starting on June 15, and that anyone vaccinated in the U.S. will be able to enter Hawaii without testing once the state has reached a 60 percent vaccination rate.

If you are unvaccinated, you should continue to adhere to social distancing and mask-wearing protocols while traveling domestically, the C.D.C. said . You can use the C.D.C.’s Travel Planner to check guidelines by state.

What are the testing and vaccination rules for international travel?

While testing and vaccination requirements vary by destination country, everyone arriving in the U.S. — even vaccinated Americans — must present a negative test result upon entry .

Many nations are still closed to American travelers. Those that are open may require a negative test, proof of vaccination or evidence of recovery (or a combination of these) to enter.

The United Kingdom , for instance, requires that American travelers, regardless of vaccination status, provide proof of a negative test taken within 72 hours of departure, quarantine upon arrival and take two additional tests during their stay. Children under 11 are exempt from these requirements, as are some other people depending on their reason for travel.

Some European countries have been allowing in Americans who are vaccinated or who can show a negative test. Americans are on the European Union’s “safe list” of countries, but while the bloc aims to take a coordinated approach to travel this summer, member states will be allowed to set their own requirements for travelers from individual countries, which could include testing and vaccination.

The E.U. “safe list” also applies to Europe’s border-free Schengen Zone, which includes non-E.U. countries such as Norway, Switzerland, Iceland and Lichtenstein.

Canada is still closed to Americans , with few exceptions, and will remain so until at least early July, said Patty Hajdu, the country’s minister of health, in a news conference in June.

The U.S.-Mexico land border is closed for nonessential travel until at least June 21, but air travel is allowed and the country does not require a negative test for entry. Because of its high risk level, the C.D.C. recommends that travelers be fully vaccinated before traveling to Mexico.

Consult the C.D.C.’s inventory of international travel health notices for more information on regulations by country.

“Travelers should always check with their airline and the embassy of the country they are visiting to ensure they have the proper documentation required to enter the country,” said Perry Flint, a spokesman for The International Air Transport Association, a global airline industry group.

What test should I take, and where and when?

To enter the U.S., travelers must show a negative result to a nucleic acid amplification test (NAAT) — PCR is a type of NAAT test — or an antigen test, also known as a rapid test, taken in the three days before departure, according to the C.D.C .

Some airports offer on-site testing, such as Heathrow Airport in England, or Rome’s Fiumicino International Airport in Italy.

Josh Alexander, a New York-based luxury travel agent for Protravel International, said that many international hotels, including most Four Seasons hotels and resorts , are offering on-site rapid tests for free or at a nominal cost.

Testing at local clinics is also available in many places, though you should check availability at your destination ahead of time and book if you can. It may also come at a high cost. Mr. Alexander said that PCR tests abroad can range from $50 to $150.

The C.D.C. said that it allows for a three-day time frame rather than 72 hours to allow flexibility in the time of day the test can be taken. For instance, if you are flying out on a Friday, the test may be taken at any time on Tuesday.

But, when it comes to international destinations, Mr. Alexander recommends erring on the side of caution when timing your test by calculating it based on time of arrival at your destination.

“Rules are constantly changing,” he said, “so we’re just trying to always tell people they should always be as conservative as possible to eliminate any gray area.”

What are the requirements for minors?

The C.D.C. testing recommendations apply to all children 2 years and older, which means your toddler also needs to deliver a negative Covid-19 test to enter the U.S. from abroad. When traveling, children should wear masks, practice social distancing and wash hands often, the C.D.C. said .

“If the kids are age 12 and older, get ’em vaccinated,” said William Schaffner, an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University, in an email.

If you’re traveling to a country within the European Union that is open to travelers from the U.S., children who cannot be vaccinated should have a negative PCR test taken no more than 72 hours before arrival at your destination, and additional testing may be required upon arrival.

Travelers should check with their airline or destination country website for relevant requirements.

What if I want to go on a cruise?

Rules vary from one cruise line to another, with some planning to require that all passengers and crew be vaccinated, and others adopting a hybrid model.

But recent laws passed in Florida and Texas banning businesses from requiring proof of vaccination to use their services may complicate this plan.

Celebrity Cruises, set to be the first U.S. cruise ship to restart operations on June 26 from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., said it’s optimistic that a resolution would be reached in time . It is requiring that guests 16 years and older be vaccinated, while children will be tested at the terminal.

Carnival Cruises said on Monday that its first ship would set sail from the Port of Galveston, in Texas, on July 3 and would be available only for vaccinated passengers. Norwegian, which will begin to operate cruises from Miami in August, said it will require the same through October 31 and has threatened to skip Florida ports if the state does not allow cruise lines an exemption from the law banning vaccine requirements.

Christine Duffy, the president of Carnival Cruise Line, said in a statement on June 7 that “the current CDC requirements for cruising with a guest base that is unvaccinated will make it very difficult to deliver the experience our guests expect, especially given the large number of families with younger children who sail with us.”

“As a result, our alternative is to operate our ships from the U.S. during the month of July with vaccinated guests,” she said.

But even if you are vaccinated, you must also consider the requirements of the country where the cruise is disembarking. The Caribbean island of St. Maarten, for instance, where Celebrity Cruises started sailing on June 5, requires a negative test in addition to proof of vaccination.

What documents should I bring with me if I travel?

This will also depend on where you’re going, but a good rule of thumb is to carry your physical vaccine card, if you have it, and proof of a negative test, if it is required.

Mr. Alexander, the travel agent, recommends people bring the original documents. While a number of digital health certificates — which show vaccine status and test results — are in the works, he said, they are not yet widely accepted. You should check, also, that your document is in the correct language. The United Kingdom , for instance, requires that test results be in English, Spanish or French.

CommonPass , from the Geneva-based nonprofit the Commons Project Foundation, and the I.A.T.A. Travel Pass are two apps providing digital access to vaccine and testing records for travel. The European Union will be releasing its own digital Covid certificate for E.U. citizens by July 1, though it is unclear whether Americans will be able to use it.

You should check with your airline to see if the app you want to use will be accepted at your destination. Both the CommonPass and I.A.T.A. websites list destinations and airline partners accepting the digital health certificates.

Mr. Alexander added that some countries, such as Croatia, may also require proof of a return flight or confirmation of your hotel booking or other accommodation, though this is rare. In South Africa, which has implemented a curfew, travelers may need to show their flight ticket to law enforcement officers to show they are allowed to be in transit.

But these shifting regulations should not dissuade people from traveling, Mr. Alexander said.

“If you’re vaccinated and you’re following safe precautions, you can still have a great experience,” he said.

Concepción de León is a travel reporter based in New York. More about Concepción de León

From vaccines to testing: What travelers need to know before the new US travel system on Nov. 8

travel vaccination certificate

  • The U.S. is launching a new travel system on Nov. 8.
  • Vaccinated foreign air travelers will need to show proof of full vaccination and test for COVID-19.
  • The new travel system also adds more stringent testing requirements for unvaccinated U.S. travelers.

The United States is about to make it much easier for vaccinated international travelers to visit.  

The White House announced that a new air travel system will take effect Nov. 8, allowing entry for fully vaccinated foreign tourists .  The system is set to launch nearly two years after the U.S. began imposing travel restrictions to prevent the spread of COVID-19 . 

The move by the White House will essentially have the U.S. drop its travel ban on dozens of countries while also making entry more challenging for the unvaccinated. The new system will allow entry for foreign nationals only with vaccinations approved for emergency use by the World Health Organization and would add testing requirements for unvaccinated Americans.

Here’s what we know about the new travel requirements:

What are the entry requirements for foreign nationals?

Starting Nov. 8, non-citizen, non-immigrant air travelers   will need to show proof of full vaccination as well as a pre-departure negative coronavirus test taken within three days of travel before they can board a plane to the U.S. 

Learn more: Best travel insurance

Acceptable forms of proof of vaccination include:

  • Digital or paper verifiable record, such as a vaccination certificate or a digital pass with a QR code.  
  • Nonverifiable paper record, such as a printout of a COVID-19 vaccination record or COVID-19 vaccination certificate.
  • Nonverifiable digital record, such as a digital photo of a vaccination card or record, downloaded vaccine record, downloaded vaccination certificate or a mobile phone application without a QR code.  

The U.S. will accept nucleic acid amplification tests, including PCR tests, and antigen tests. The rules will go into effect for passengers on planes leaving for the U.S. at or after 12:01 a.m. ET on Nov. 8.  

Airlines will collect basic personal contact information   from all U.S.-bound travelers for contact tracing. Airlines are required to keep the information on hand so the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention   can reach out to travelers who may have been infected or exposed to COVID-19.

Masking will be required, but there will be no quarantine mandate for vaccinated travelers or unvaccinated children .

► US  travel bans: How COVID-19 travel restrictions have impacted families and couples

The change will make entering the U.S. possible for travelers from countries now listed on the U.S. travel ban, which prohibits entry for travelers who have been in any of the regions within the past 14 days. The travel ban  took effect in early 2020 and includes :

  • United Kingdom
  • Republic of Ireland
  • South Africa
  • The European Schengen area (Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Monaco, San Marino and Vatican City)

Currently, the U.S. asks international air passengers only to get tested within three days of their flight to the U.S. and show either the negative test result or proof of recovery  from COVID-19 before boarding. 

What about the land borders with Mexico and Canada?

New travel rules will also take effect for foreign nationals arriving by land or passenger ferry.

Starting Nov. 8, fully vaccinated foreign nationals can cross the land borders for nonessential reasons such as tourism or visiting friends and family . These travelers will need to verbally attest to their reason for travel and vaccination status and be prepared to show proof of vaccination  upon request. U.S. Customs and Border Protection will accept both digital and paper records showing proof of vaccination, including documents not in English.   Foreign nationals will also need appropriate travel documentation to enter the country.  

CBP will spot-check travelers' vaccination documents, and those without documented proof of vaccination can be denied entry. Travelers under 18 will be exempt from the vaccination requirement as long as they are traveling with a fully vaccinated adult, according to Matthew Davies, CBP's executive director of admissibility and passenger programs.  

The new travel rules will go into effect as soon as a port of entry opens on Nov. 8, or at midnight for ports that operate 24 hours a day changes will go into effect at midnight on Nov. 8 for ports that operation 24 hours a day.  

U.S. citizens reentering the country should also bring a Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative document, such as a valid passport, trusted traveler program card, enhanced driver's license or enhanced tribal card. 

Entry rules along the border will change again in early January, with all travelers – including those traveling for essential purposes – required to show proof of full vaccination. 

► US land borders: Travelers in Mexico and Canada plan their next US visit after new land border policy announced

Which vaccines does the US accept for travel?

The CDC has announced that vaccines approved for emergency use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and World Health Organization will be accepted for air travel. White House officials expect the CDC to approve the same vaccines for travelers entering the U.S. by land or ferry.  

The FDA has authorized three COVID-19 vaccines for emergency use during the pandemic: Moderna, Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer-BioNTech, the last of which has received the FDA's full stamp of approval.

Vaccines with WHO approval for emergency use include:

  • Johnson & Johnson
  • Pfizer-BioNTech
  • Oxford-AstraZeneca/Covishield 

The CDC confirmed that it would accept a mix-and-match approach to vaccinations. Travelers who have any combination of FDA- or WHO-approved vaccines will be considered fully vaccinated.

The new travel policy does not accept foreign travelers who have had COVID and received just one shot in a two-dose series. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday that the administration will "continue to review" its entry requirements.  

► Covaxin gets WHO emergency approval: Travelers vaccinated with Covaxin can enter US   

► 'You feel lonely and left out': These fully vaccinated travelers want to visit the US. They may not be allowed in.

How do the new rules affect kids? 

Foreign nationals under 18 are exempt from the vaccination requirement. Children under two will not need to take a pre-departure COVID test.

Kids 2 and older traveling with a fully vaccinated adult can test three days prior to departure, while children traveling alone or with unvaccinated adults will need to get tested within one day of departure. 

Currently, all air passengers 2 or older, including U.S. citizens and permanent residents, need to show a negative coronavirus test to fly to the U.S.

What are the entry requirements for Americans?

The new travel system adds more stringent testing requirements for unvaccinated U.S. travelers.

Starting Nov. 8, unvaccinated U.S. citizens and permanent residents will need to take a test one day before departure and test again upon arrival in the U.S. 

► New travel rules: What US travelers need to know about the new COVID rules for international flights

Entry requirements will not change for vaccinated Americans. They will still need to show proof of a negative coronavirus test taken no more than three days before departure. 

Americans will not need to be fully vaccinated to board international flights to the U.S.

Are there any exemptions?

There is a limited set of travelers who are exempt from the vaccine requirement for entry.

Children under 18, certain COVID-19 vaccine clinical trial participants and travelers with adverse reactions to the vaccines – such as people who have had severe anaphylactic allergic reactions to a prior COVID-19 vaccine –  will be exempt.

People traveling on non-tourist visas from countries with less than 10% of its population vaccinated who need to enter the U.S. for emergency or humanitarian reasons are also exempt from the vaccine requirement. There are about 50 countries considered to have low vaccine availability at this time.

These exempt travelers will generally need to show that they will comply with public health mandates, including a requirement to be vaccinated in the U.S. if they plan to stay more than 60 days.  

Unless they have recovered from COVID-19 within the last 90 days, unvaccinated travelers  must agree to be tested with a COVID-19 viral test three to five days after their arrival and quarantine for seven days, even if their post-arrival test comes back negative. 

Unvaccinated travelers who are not U.S. citizens or permanent residents must also agree to self-isolate if their post-arrival test is positive or if they develop COVID-19 symptoms. 

Unvaccinated children under 18 will not need to quarantine but will still need to take a post-arrival test. 

► Who is exempt?: These select groups of unvaccinated foreign travelers can enter the US

The CDC will not give exemptions  to people who object to the vaccinations due to religious or moral convictions. 

There will also be testing accommodations for travelers who can prove they recently recovered from the coronavirus. These travelers will need to show a positive COVID-19 viral test result on a sample taken no more than 90 days before their flight's departure and a letter from a licensed healthcare provider or public health official saying they are cleared for travel.  

Follow USA TODAY reporter Bailey Schulz on Twitter: @bailey_schulz . 

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Think Travel Vaccine Guide

As a health care provider, be sure to prepare your globe-trotting patients for travel by providing a quick pretravel risk assessment, consultation, and care. THINK TRAVEL:

  • Ask your patients if they plan on any international travel .
  • Make sure they are up- to- date on all routine vaccines before their trip.
  • Hepatitis A
  • Hepatitis B
  • Yellow fever
  • Japanese encephalitis
  • Meningococcal diseases

For destination-specific vaccine recommendations, search CDC’s Destination pages.

Think about...

*Travelers may also need routine (non-travel) vaccines or boosters before travel including influenza; measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR); tetanus (Td or Tdap); varicella; pneumococcus; and polio. Check CDC’s Destination Pages for country-specific vaccine recommendations.

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COVID-19 international travel advisories

If you plan to visit the U.S., you do not need to be tested or vaccinated for COVID-19. U.S. citizens going abroad, check with the Department of State for travel advisories.

COVID-19 testing and vaccine rules for entering the U.S.

  • As of May 12, 2023, noncitizen nonimmigrant visitors to the U.S.  arriving by air  or  arriving by land or sea  no longer need to show proof of being fully vaccinated against COVID-19. 
  • As of June 12, 2022,  people entering the U.S. no longer need to show proof of a negative COVID-19 test . 

U.S. citizens traveling to a country outside the U.S.

Find country-specific COVID-19 travel rules from the Department of State.

See the  CDC's COVID-19 guidance for safer international travel.

LAST UPDATED: December 6, 2023

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Monday, March 25, 2024 10:54 pm (Paris)

  • International

Bolsonaro and relatives accused of falsifying Covid-19 vaccination certificates

The former president is alleged to have had forgeries made at the end of 2022, a few days before the end of his term, to travel to the United States, where vaccination was then required. These offenses could land him in prison for up to 12 years.

By  Bruno Meyerfeld   (São Paulo (Brazil) correspondent)

Time to 3 min.

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Jair Bolsonaro, then President of Brazil, during the Covid-19 pandemic, Brasilia, March 18, 2020.

Has Jair Bolsonaro taken another step closer to prison? On Tuesday, March 19, the Brazilian Federal Police formally indicted the former president. Bolsonaro is suspected of ordering the forgery of Covid-19 vaccination certificates for him and his relatives. These charges could earn the far-right leader up to 12 years in jail.

The extensive police report, which has now been made public, targets a further 16 individuals, suspected of having inserted false information into a public health database. Among the beneficiaries were Bolsonaro and his daughter Laura, now 13, as well as Rio de Janeiro MP Gutemberg Reis, military personnel and a number of advisors.

According to the investigators, the scheme was orchestrated on Bolsonaro's orders by his former aide and loyal right arm, Mauro Cid, in late December 2022, a few days before the end of his mandate on January 1, 2023. The false documents were allegedly produced by the city hall in Duque de Caxias, in Rio's northern suburbs, whose officials are sympathetic to the far right. The certificates for the former president and his daughter were issued on the same day, in a highly dubious interval of just 10 minutes.

Seeking refuge before a popular uprising

For Bolsonaro, the situation was clearly urgent. Unwilling to attend the inauguration of his successor Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the far-right leader had decided to leave Brazil on December 30, 2022, for Florida in the USA. The presentation of a Covid-19 vaccination certificate could still be required by US customs, although, according to information from the BBC Brazil website, there were exceptions for holders of diplomatic passports, such as the former president.

The police went further, however, and drew a link between the "certificate affair" and alleged plans for a coup d'état prepared by the ruling clan in late 2022. The forgeries would have enabled the conspirators "to have the necessary documents to satisfy any legal requirements for entry and residence abroad (...) while awaiting the conclusion of the acts linked to a new coup attempt," according to the report. In simpler terms, this meant they could seek safety and shelter in the United States before a possible far-right popular uprising to topple Lula and his government.

The progress of the proceedings naturally aroused the ire of the far right and the applause of the left. Fabio Wajngarten, Bolsonaro's lawyer, denounced a "political persecution" on X, and noted that the former president "was totally exempt from presenting any certificate when traveling abroad." "Fraud has always been Bolsonaro's specialty, the father of lies," Gleisi Hoffmann, president of the Workers' Party (PT), founded by Lula, remarked ironically.

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Watch CBS News

Going abroad? Time to check if you're up to date on measles immunity, CDC says

By Alexander Tin

Edited By Allison Elyse Gualtieri

March 13, 2024 / 1:43 PM EDT / CBS News

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its guidance Wednesday for travelers in the wake of a global rise in measles outbreaks, as cases have mounted  across 17 states .

Americans planning to travel abroad should consult their doctors at least six weeks before traveling if they are unsure about whether they are up to date on their vaccines, the agency now says, in order to avoid catching the highly contagious virus during their trip.

The CDC previously said in November that travelers only needed to schedule an appointment at least one month before their trip, in order to have enough time to get vaccinated .

Russia and Malaysia were also added Wednesday to the CDC's map of 46 countries now facing large measles outbreaks. However, the agency warns that the global rise in measles cases remains a threat in other parts of the world too.

"Measles spreads rapidly and may become a risk to travelers in places not included on the list above. CDC recommends all travelers are fully vaccinated against measles when traveling to any international destination," the agency says.

It is not clear what prompted the CDC's new measles guidance tweaks. A spokesperson for the agency did not immediately answer a request for comment.

In recent weeks, health authorities have ramped up their plea for Americans to get vaccinated before spring break travel this year. 

Officials have cited recent outbreaks linked to travelers who were infected abroad and had been eligible to be vaccinated. 

Those include a cluster over the winter in Philadelphia , linked to an unvaccinated baby. The infant had been old enough to get a shot of the measles-mumps-rubella or MMR vaccine, which is recommended for travelers at least 6 months old. 

Another had been in Idaho, which state health authorities linked to an unvaccinated adult who traveled to Europe, where many countries are now facing resurgent outbreaks of the virus.

"The World Health Organization has noted a significant increase in measles cases worldwide, with a 30-fold increase in Europe.  This includes popular international tourist destinations for Americans, like England," the CDC said in a report on March 8.

What to know about the measles vaccine

Two doses of MMR vaccine offers 97% protection against measles, the CDC says , and at least one dose offers 93%. The shot offers lifelong protection against measles.

Most Americans got two doses of the vaccine by the time they were 6 years old, under CDC recommendations and widespread school requirements, though vaccination rates have slipped in recent years.

For adults born after 1957 who are unsure if they are protected, all are recommended to get at least one dose of the vaccine if they do not have evidence of immunity , like records of vaccination or previous infection.

Growing measles cases in the U.S.

In the United States, state and local health authorities have announced at least 55 confirmed or suspected cases of measles so far this year across 17 states. 

That is close to the 58 total measles cases the CDC says were reported for all of 2023. The last peak of yearly measles cases was in 2019. That year 1,274 infections were reported, making up the most on record in a single year since 1992.

Most new cases in the past week have been in Illinois, where Chicago health authorities have been responding to an outbreak in a migrant shelter. That outbreak prompted the deployment of CDC and state teams to aid the response, as the city has sought to screen and vaccinate hundreds potentially exposed.

New infections have also been announced over the past week in California and Arizona.

A spokesperson for the California Department of Public Health said Wednesday there were four reported measles cases statewide, and that "cases have been linked to travel to countries with epidemics in the wake of decreased routine immunization."

Hundreds may have been exposed at a hospital in Sacramento, authorities warned on March 8, after a child contracted the virus following a trip outside of the country.

State officials said their measles trends remain "similar to pre-pandemic levels" so far.

Officials in Arizona's Coconino County also announced a new case on March 11. Three previous infections were reported this year in Arizona's Maricopa County, which spans Phoenix, but the new case wasn't linked to those or to international travel, a county health and human services department spokesperson said Tuesday.

Alexander Tin is a digital reporter for CBS News based in the Washington, D.C. bureau. He covers the Biden administration's public health agencies, including the federal response to infectious disease outbreaks like COVID-19.

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The Moscow Metro Museum of Art: 10 Must-See Stations

There are few times one can claim having been on the subway all afternoon and loving it, but the Moscow Metro provides just that opportunity.  While many cities boast famous public transport systems—New York’s subway, London’s underground, San Salvador’s chicken buses—few warrant hours of exploration.  Moscow is different: Take one ride on the Metro, and you’ll find out that this network of railways can be so much more than point A to B drudgery.

The Metro began operating in 1935 with just thirteen stations, covering less than seven miles, but it has since grown into the world’s third busiest transit system ( Tokyo is first ), spanning about 200 miles and offering over 180 stops along the way.  The construction of the Metro began under Joseph Stalin’s command, and being one of the USSR’s most ambitious building projects, the iron-fisted leader instructed designers to create a place full of svet (radiance) and svetloe budushchee (a radiant future), a palace for the people and a tribute to the Mother nation.

Consequently, the Metro is among the most memorable attractions in Moscow.  The stations provide a unique collection of public art, comparable to anything the city’s galleries have to offer and providing a sense of the Soviet era, which is absent from the State National History Museum.  Even better, touring the Metro delivers palpable, experiential moments, which many of us don’t get standing in front of painting or a case of coins.

Though tours are available , discovering the Moscow Metro on your own provides a much more comprehensive, truer experience, something much less sterile than following a guide.  What better place is there to see the “real” Moscow than on mass transit: A few hours will expose you to characters and caricatures you’ll be hard-pressed to find dining near the Bolshoi Theater.  You become part of the attraction, hear it in the screech of the train, feel it as hurried commuters brush by: The Metro sucks you beneath the city and churns you into the mix.

With the recommendations of our born-and-bred Muscovite students, my wife Emma and I have just taken a self-guided tour of what some locals consider the top ten stations of the Moscow Metro. What most satisfied me about our Metro tour was the sense of adventure .  I loved following our route on the maps of the wagon walls as we circled the city, plotting out the course to the subsequent stops; having the weird sensation of being underground for nearly four hours; and discovering the next cavern of treasures, playing Indiana Jones for the afternoon, piecing together fragments of Russia’s mysterious history.  It’s the ultimate interactive museum.

Top Ten Stations (In order of appearance)

Kievskaya station.

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Kievskaya Station went public in March of 1937, the rails between it and Park Kultury Station being the first to cross the Moscow River.  Kievskaya is full of mosaics depicting aristocratic scenes of Russian life, with great cameo appearances by Lenin, Trotsky, and Stalin.  Each work has a Cyrillic title/explanation etched in the marble beneath it; however, if your Russian is rusty, you can just appreciate seeing familiar revolutionary dates like 1905 ( the Russian Revolution ) and 1917 ( the October Revolution ).

Mayakovskaya Station

Mayakovskaya Station ranks in my top three most notable Metro stations. Mayakovskaya just feels right, done Art Deco but no sense of gaudiness or pretention.  The arches are adorned with rounded chrome piping and create feeling of being in a jukebox, but the roof’s expansive mosaics of the sky are the real showstopper.  Subjects cleverly range from looking up at a high jumper, workers atop a building, spires of Orthodox cathedrals, to nimble aircraft humming by, a fleet of prop planes spelling out CCCP in the bluest of skies.

Novoslobodskaya Station

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Novoslobodskaya is the Metro’s unique stained glass station.  Each column has its own distinctive panels of colorful glass, most of them with a floral theme, some of them capturing the odd sailor, musician, artist, gardener, or stenographer in action.  The glass is framed in Art Deco metalwork, and there is the lovely aspect of discovering panels in the less frequented haunches of the hall (on the trackside, between the incoming staircases).  Novosblod is, I’ve been told, the favorite amongst out-of-town visitors.

Komsomolskaya Station

Komsomolskaya Station is one of palatial grandeur.  It seems both magnificent and obligatory, like the presidential palace of a colonial city.  The yellow ceiling has leafy, white concrete garland and a series of golden military mosaics accenting the tile mosaics of glorified Russian life.  Switching lines here, the hallway has an Alice-in-Wonderland feel, impossibly long with decorative tile walls, culminating in a very old station left in a remarkable state of disrepair, offering a really tangible glimpse behind the palace walls.

Dostoevskaya Station

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Dostoevskaya is a tribute to the late, great hero of Russian literature .  The station at first glance seems bare and unimpressive, a stark marble platform without a whiff of reassembled chips of tile.  However, two columns have eerie stone inlay collages of scenes from Dostoevsky’s work, including The Idiot , The Brothers Karamazov , and Crime and Punishment.   Then, standing at the center of the platform, the marble creates a kaleidoscope of reflections.  At the entrance, there is a large, inlay portrait of the author.

Chkalovskaya Station

Chkalovskaya does space Art Deco style (yet again).  Chrome borders all.  Passageways with curvy overhangs create the illusion of walking through the belly of a chic, new-age spacecraft.  There are two (kos)mosaics, one at each end, with planetary subjects.  Transferring here brings you above ground, where some rather elaborate metalwork is on display.  By name similarity only, I’d expected Komsolskaya Station to deliver some kosmonaut décor; instead, it was Chkalovskaya that took us up to the space station.

Elektrozavodskaya Station

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Elektrozavodskaya is full of marble reliefs of workers, men and women, laboring through the different stages of industry.  The superhuman figures are round with muscles, Hollywood fit, and seemingly undeterred by each Herculean task they respectively perform.  The station is chocked with brass, from hammer and sickle light fixtures to beautiful, angular framework up the innards of the columns.  The station’s art pieces are less clever or extravagant than others, but identifying the different stages of industry is entertaining.

Baumanskaya Statio

Baumanskaya Station is the only stop that wasn’t suggested by the students.  Pulling in, the network of statues was just too enticing: Out of half-circle depressions in the platform’s columns, the USSR’s proud and powerful labor force again flaunts its success.  Pilots, blacksmiths, politicians, and artists have all congregated, posing amongst more Art Deco framing.  At the far end, a massive Soviet flag dons the face of Lenin and banners for ’05, ’17, and ‘45.  Standing in front of the flag, you can play with the echoing roof.

Ploshchad Revolutsii Station

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Novokuznetskaya Station

Novokuznetskaya Station finishes off this tour, more or less, where it started: beautiful mosaics.  This station recalls the skyward-facing pieces from Mayakovskaya (Station #2), only with a little larger pictures in a more cramped, very trafficked area.  Due to a line of street lamps in the center of the platform, it has the atmosphere of a bustling market.  The more inventive sky scenes include a man on a ladder, women picking fruit, and a tank-dozer being craned in.  The station’s also has a handsome black-and-white stone mural.

Here is a map and a brief description of our route:

Start at (1)Kievskaya on the “ring line” (look for the squares at the bottom of the platform signs to help you navigate—the ring line is #5, brown line) and go north to Belorusskaya, make a quick switch to the Dark Green/#2 line, and go south one stop to (2)Mayakovskaya.  Backtrack to the ring line—Brown/#5—and continue north, getting off at (3)Novosblodskaya and (4)Komsolskaya.  At Komsolskaya Station, transfer to the Red/#1 line, go south for two stops to Chistye Prudy, and get on the Light Green/#10 line going north.  Take a look at (5)Dostoevskaya Station on the northern segment of Light Green/#10 line then change directions and head south to (6)Chkalovskaya, which offers a transfer to the Dark Blue/#3 line, going west, away from the city center.  Have a look (7)Elektroskaya Station before backtracking into the center of Moscow, stopping off at (8)Baumskaya, getting off the Dark Blue/#3 line at (9)Ploschad Revolyutsii.  Change to the Dark Green/#2 line and go south one stop to see (10)Novokuznetskaya Station.

Check out our new Moscow Indie Travel Guide , book a flight to Moscow and read 10 Bars with Views Worth Blowing the Budget For

Jonathon Engels, formerly a patron saint of misadventure, has been stumbling his way across cultural borders since 2005 and is currently volunteering in the mountains outside of Antigua, Guatemala.  For more of his work, visit his website and blog .

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Photo credits:   SergeyRod , all others courtesy of the author and may not be used without permission

Claudia Looi

Touring the Top 10 Moscow Metro Stations

By Claudia Looi 2 Comments

Komsomolskaya metro station

Komsomolskaya metro station looks like a museum. It has vaulted ceilings and baroque decor.

Hidden underground, in the heart of Moscow, are historical and architectural treasures of Russia. These are Soviet-era creations – the metro stations of Moscow.

Our guide Maria introduced these elaborate metro stations as “the palaces for the people.” Built between 1937 and 1955, each station holds its own history and stories. Stalin had the idea of building beautiful underground spaces that the masses could enjoy. They would look like museums, art centers, concert halls, palaces and churches. Each would have a different theme. None would be alike.

The two-hour private tour was with a former Intourist tour guide named Maria. Maria lived in Moscow all her life and through the communist era of 60s to 90s. She has been a tour guide for more than 30 years. Being in her 60s, she moved rather quickly for her age. We traveled and crammed with Maria and other Muscovites on the metro to visit 10 different metro stations.

Arrow showing the direction of metro line 1 and 2

Arrow showing the direction of metro line 1 and 2

Moscow subways are very clean

Moscow subways are very clean

To Maria, every street, metro and building told a story. I couldn’t keep up with her stories. I don’t remember most of what she said because I was just thrilled being in Moscow.   Added to that, she spilled out so many Russian words and names, which to one who can’t read Cyrillic, sounded so foreign and could be easily forgotten.

The metro tour was the first part of our all day tour of Moscow with Maria. Here are the stations we visited:

1. Komsomolskaya Metro Station  is the most beautiful of them all. Painted yellow and decorated with chandeliers, gold leaves and semi precious stones, the station looks like a stately museum. And possibly decorated like a palace. I saw Komsomolskaya first, before the rest of the stations upon arrival in Moscow by train from St. Petersburg.

2. Revolution Square Metro Station (Ploshchad Revolyutsii) has marble arches and 72 bronze sculptures designed by Alexey Dushkin. The marble arches are flanked by the bronze sculptures. If you look closely you will see passersby touching the bronze dog's nose. Legend has it that good luck comes to those who touch the dog's nose.

Touch the dog's nose for good luck. At the Revolution Square station

Touch the dog's nose for good luck. At the Revolution Square station

Revolution Square Metro Station

Revolution Square Metro Station

3. Arbatskaya Metro Station served as a shelter during the Soviet-era. It is one of the largest and the deepest metro stations in Moscow.

Arbatskaya Metro Station

Arbatskaya Metro Station

4. Biblioteka Imeni Lenina Metro Station was built in 1935 and named after the Russian State Library. It is located near the library and has a big mosaic portrait of Lenin and yellow ceramic tiles on the track walls.

Biblioteka Imeni Lenina Metro Station

Lenin's portrait at the Biblioteka Imeni Lenina Metro Station

IMG_5767

5. Kievskaya Metro Station was one of the first to be completed in Moscow. Named after the capital city of Ukraine by Kiev-born, Nikita Khruschev, Stalin's successor.

IMG_5859

Kievskaya Metro Station

6. Novoslobodskaya Metro Station  was built in 1952. It has 32 stained glass murals with brass borders.

Screen Shot 2015-04-01 at 5.17.53 PM

Novoslobodskaya metro station

7. Kurskaya Metro Station was one of the first few to be built in Moscow in 1938. It has ceiling panels and artwork showing Soviet leadership, Soviet lifestyle and political power. It has a dome with patriotic slogans decorated with red stars representing the Soviet's World War II Hall of Fame. Kurskaya Metro Station is a must-visit station in Moscow.

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Ceiling panel and artworks at Kurskaya Metro Station

IMG_5826

8. Mayakovskaya Metro Station built in 1938. It was named after Russian poet Vladmir Mayakovsky. This is one of the most beautiful metro stations in the world with 34 mosaics painted by Alexander Deyneka.

Mayakovskaya station

Mayakovskaya station

Mayakovskaya metro station

One of the over 30 ceiling mosaics in Mayakovskaya metro station

9. Belorusskaya Metro Station is named after the people of Belarus. In the picture below, there are statues of 3 members of the Partisan Resistance in Belarus during World War II. The statues were sculpted by Sergei Orlov, S. Rabinovich and I. Slonim.

IMG_5893

10. Teatralnaya Metro Station (Theatre Metro Station) is located near the Bolshoi Theatre.

Teatralnaya Metro Station decorated with porcelain figures .

Teatralnaya Metro Station decorated with porcelain figures .

Taking the metro's escalator at the end of the tour with Maria the tour guide.

Taking the metro's escalator at the end of the tour with Maria the tour guide.

Have you visited the Moscow Metro? Leave your comment below.

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January 15, 2017 at 8:17 am

An excellent read! Thanks for much for sharing the Russian metro system with us. We're heading to Moscow in April and exploring the metro stations were on our list and after reading your post, I'm even more excited to go visit them. Thanks again 🙂

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December 6, 2017 at 10:45 pm

Hi, do you remember which tour company you contacted for this tour?

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Several probes target Brazil's Bolsonaro, but his COVID decisions are catching up to him first

R IO DE JANEIRO (AP) — As Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro's term wound down in the final days of December 2022, he had decided to skip the ritual of handing over the presidential sash to his successor, and instead made plans to travel abroad.

But there was a problem, according to a Federal Police indictment unveiled Tuesday: Bolsonaro didn’t have the necessary vaccination certificate required by U.S. authorities.

So Bolsonaro turned to his aide-de-camp, Mauro Cid, and asked him to insert false data into the public health system to make it appear as though he and his 12-year-old daughter had received the COVID-19 vaccine, according to the indictment.

Cid told police he tasked someone with the carrying out the deed, then printed out the certificates inside the presidential palace on Dec. 22 and hand-delivered them to Bolsonaro, according to detective Fábio Alvarez Shor, who signed the indictment.

It is Bolsonaro's first indictment since leaving office, and tampering with public records in Brazil is no trifling matter; should the prosecutor-general’s office decide to use the indictment to file charges at the Supreme Court, the 68-year-old politician could spend up to 12 years behind bars or as little as two years, according to legal analyst Zilan Costa. A separate indictment for criminal association carries a maximum jail time of four years, he said.

Bolsonaro, who didn't comment on Tuesday, previously denied any wrongdoing during questioning in May 2023.

In addition to the allegation Bolsonaro falsified records, another ongoing investigation seeks to determine whether he tried to sneak two sets of expensive diamond jewelry into Brazil and prevent them from being incorporated into the presidency’s public collection. Police are also probing his alleged involvement in the Jan. 8, 2023 uprising in the capital, soon after Lula took power. It resembled the U.S. Capitol riot in Washington two years prior and sought to restore Bolsonaro to power. Commanders who served under Bolsonaro have told police the former leader presented them with a plan for him to remain in power after he lost his 2022 reelection bid.

But it is his actions during the COVID-19 pandemic – which he called “a measly cold” as he brazenly flouted health restrictions and encouraged Brazilians to follow his example – that may have caught up with him first. After vaccines became available, he dismissed them as unnecessary, despite Brazil registering one of the highest death tolls in the world, and repeatedly said he would not receive a jab himself.

His administration ignored several offers from pharmaceutical company Pfizer to sell Brazil tens of millions of shots in 2020, and he openly criticized a move by Sao Paulo state’s governor to buy vaccines from Chinese company Sinovac when no other doses at hand.

Bolsonaro wasn't the only one indicted on Tuesday: Cid and 15 others were accused of involvement in the scheme to falsify records for themselves and others.

“The former president never ordered or knew that any of his advisors had produced vaccination certificates with ideologically false content,” three of Bolsonaro’s lawyers said in a statement released late Tuesday. “When he entered the U.S. at the end of December 2022, he was not asked for a vaccination certificate since, as President of the Republic, he was exempt from this requirement.”

Shor, the police detective, wrote in his indictment he is awaiting information from the U.S. Justice Department to “clarify whether those under investigation did make use of the false vaccination certificates upon their arrival and stay in American territory.” If so, further charges could be leveled against Bolsonaro, Shor wrote without specifying in which country.

His indictment breathed fresh life into a Senate committee inquiry that ended in October 2021 with a recommendation for nine criminal charges against Bolsonaro, alleging that he mismanaged the pandemic. Then prosecutor-general Augusto Aras, who was widely seen as a Bolsonaro ally, declined to move the case forward.

Aras’ successor, Paulo Gonet, met committee members Tuesday night. They requested that he reopen investigations stemming from their monthslong work that were shelved, and stressed the importance of carrying forward those already underway, according to a statement from the office of Sen. Omar Aziz, who chaired the committee.

Bolsonaro retains staunch allegiance among his political base, as shown by an outpouring of support last month, when an estimated 185,000 people clogged Sao Paulo’s main boulevard to decry what they — and the former president — characterize as political persecution.

The indictment will not turn off his backers and will only confirm his detractors’ suspicions, said Carlos Melo, a political science professor at Insper University in Sao Paulo.

“It is definitely worse for him in courts,” Melo said. “He could be entering a trend of convictions, and then arrest.”

Brazil’s top electoral court has already ruled Bolsonaro ineligible to run for office until 2030 , on the grounds that he abused his power during the 2022 campaign and cast unfounded doubts on the country’s electronic voting system.

After losing the October 2022 election, he never conceded defeat. And with a fresh vaccination certificate in hand, according to the police indictment, he decamped for south Florida.

___ Savarese reported from Sao Paulo.

FILE - Brazil's former President Jair Bolsonaro leaves after attending an event at the Trump National Doral Miami, in Doral, Fla., Feb. 3, 2023. As Bolsonaro's term wound down in the final days of December 2022, Bolsonaro decided to skip the ritual of handing over the presidential sash to his successor, and instead traveled to Florida. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell, File)

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Double-blind, Placebo-controlled, Randomized Study of the Tolerability, Safety and Immunogenicity of an Inactivated Whole Virion Concentrated Purified Vaccine (CoviVac) Against Covid-19 of Children at the Age of 12-17 Years Inclusive"

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Recruitment of volunteers will be competitive. A maximum of 450 children aged 12 to 17 years inclusive will be screened in the study, of which it is planned to include and randomize 300 children who meet the criteria for inclusion in the study and do not have non-inclusion criteria, data on which will be used for subsequent safety and immunogenicity analysis.

Group 1 - 150 volunteers who will be vaccinated with the Nobivac vaccine twice with an interval of 21 days intramuscularly.

Group 2 - 150 volunteers who will receive a placebo twice with an interval of 21 days intramuscularly.

In case of withdrawal of volunteers from the study, their replacement is not provided.

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Inclusion Criteria:

  • Volunteers must meet the following inclusion criteria:

Type of participants • Healthy volunteers.

Age at the time of signing the Informed Consent

• from 12 to 17 years inclusive (12 years 0 months 0 days - 17 years 11 months 30 days).

Paul • Male or female.

Reproductive characteristics

  • For girls with a history of mensis - a negative pregnancy test and consent to adhere to adequate methods of contraception (use of contraceptives within a month after the second vaccination). Girls should use methods of contraception with a reliability of more than 90% (cervical caps with spermicide, diaphragms with spermicide, condoms, intrauterine spirals).
  • For young men capable of conception - consent to adhere to adequate methods of contraception (use of contraceptives within a month after the second vaccination). Young men and their sexual partners should use methods of contraception with a reliability of more than 90% (cervical caps with spermicide, diaphragms with spermicide, condoms, intrauterine spirals).

Research procedures

  • Written Informed consent of a volunteer (14 years and older) and one of the parents to participate in a clinical trial.
  • Volunteers who are able to fulfill Protocol requirements (i.e. answer phone calls, fill out a Self-observation Diary, come to control visits).

Non-inclusion criteria:

  • Volunteers cannot be included in the study if any of the following criteria are present:

SARS-CoV-2 infection

  • A case of established COVID-19 disease confirmed by PCR and/or ELISA in the last 6 months.
  • History of contacts with confirmed or suspected cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection within 14 days prior to vaccination.
  • Positive IgM or IgG to SARS-CoV-2 detected on Screening.
  • Positive PCR test for SARS-CoV-2 at Screening / before vaccination.

Diseases or medical conditions

  • Serious post-vaccination reaction (temperature above 40 C, hyperemia or edema more than 8 cm in diameter) or complication (collapse or shock-like condition that developed within 48 hours after vaccination; convulsions, accompanied or not accompanied by a feverish state) to any previous vaccination.
  • Burdened allergic history (anaphylactic shock, Quincke's edema, polymorphic exudative eczema, serum sickness in the anamnesis, hypersensitivity or allergic reactions to the introduction of any vaccines in the anamnesis, known allergic reactions to vaccine components, etc.).
  • Guillain-Barre syndrome (acute polyradiculitis) in the anamnesis.
  • The axillary temperature at the time of vaccination is more than 37.0 ° C.
  • Positive blood test for HIV, syphilis, hepatitis B/C.
  • Acute infectious diseases (recovery earl

Exclusion Criteria:

- • Withdrawal of Informed consent by a volunteer and/or a parent of a volunteer;

  • The volunteer was included in violation of the inclusion/non-inclusion criteria of the Protocol;
  • Availability of inclusion/non-inclusion criteria before vaccination;
  • Any condition of a volunteer that requires, in the reasoned opinion of a medical researcher, the withdrawal of a volunteer from the study;
  • The established fact of pregnancy before the second vaccination;
  • Taking unauthorized medications (see section 6.2);
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IMAGES

  1. Vaccine passport: How to prove you got a COVID-19 shot for travel

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  2. COVID-19 vaccination certificates for international travel to be

    travel vaccination certificate

  3. EU vaccination certificate for safe travel

    travel vaccination certificate

  4. Vaccines

    travel vaccination certificate

  5. Canada's new COVID-19 travel vaccine passport: You won't be able to fly

    travel vaccination certificate

  6. Travel vaccinations guide

    travel vaccination certificate

COMMENTS

  1. International Certificate of Vaccination or Prophylaxis (ICVP)

    The International Certificate of Vaccination or Prophylaxis (ICVP), also referred to as the "yellow card," is the official, internationally recognized document that travelers use to document proof of vaccination for diseases included under the IHR. Currently, vaccination against yellow fever, and in some instances, polio, must be documented ...

  2. How to prove your vaccination status when traveling internationally

    Getting a vaccine passport in France is pretty straightforward. You can go to any pharmacy and pay about $40 to verify your status. You have to bring your passport and original vaccination ...

  3. Vaccine passport: How to prove you got a COVID-19 shot for travel

    The certificate, available as either a smartphone app or paper ID using a QR code for authentication, allows users to prove their vaccine status in Israel. Passholders use their credentials to ...

  4. How Americans Can Obtain Proof of Vaccination for Travel

    Most places in the United Stats will accept your CDC-issued card, despite its flaws. But for full flexibility, it would behoove you to augment your paper-based proof with a more secure digital format. The dominant digital method of proving your vaccination status is a QR code that can be called up on your smartphone.

  5. Accessing My Vaccination Certificate and Vaccination Certificate QR

    Generate my vaccination certificate QR code. From the pop-up window with your Certificate of COVID-19 Vaccination, select Generate QR Code. VAMS will navigate you to a separate window. In this window, create a personal identification number (PIN) for accessing your vaccination certificate. The PIN needs to be 6-8 alphanumeric characters.

  6. Update on Change to U.S. Travel Policy Requiring COVID-19 Vaccination

    Last Updated: May 4, 2023. The Administration will end the COVID-19 vaccine requirements for international air travelers at the end of the day on May 11, the same day that the COVID-19 public health emergency ends. This means starting May 12, noncitizen nonimmigrant air passengers will no longer need to show proof of being fully vaccinated with ...

  7. Covid vaccine certificates for US travelers

    29th March 2022 Skyscanner. Vaccination certificates are a big part of travel, with many destinations offering looser restrictions for fully vaccinated travelers. Using COVID-19 vaccine certificates to prove that you're fully vaccinated gives you a lot more freedom in terms of where - and how - you travel. There are several ways to prove ...

  8. How to Prove You're Vaccinated for COVID-19

    CLEAR is also accepted to prove COVID-19 vaccination status to enter Hawaii. CLEAR does not have direct access to state vaccination registries, so they ask people to either upload their CDC card ...

  9. How Do I Show Proof of Vaccination When Traveling ...

    United Airlines, American Airlines, British Airways and others have all rolled out varying technologies that allow passengers to upload proof of vaccination before a flight. In July, Clear, the ...

  10. Everything travelers need to know about vaccine passports

    A Contactless Travel Pass portion of the app aims to enable passengers to create a "digital passport," upload official test and vaccination certificates, verify that they are sufficient for ...

  11. What to Know About Testing and Vaccine Requirements for Travel

    You do not need to be vaccinated for any domestic travel. Hawaii is the only state that requires a negative test for travel. In Hawaii, the test must be administered within 72 hours of arrival and ...

  12. What travelers need to know about the new US travel requirements

    The U.S. is launching a new travel system on Nov. 8. Vaccinated foreign air travelers will need to show proof of full vaccination and test for COVID-19. The new travel system also adds more ...

  13. Travelers' Health

    See the full list of Travel Health Notices, including: CDC Travelers' Health Branch provides updated travel information, notices, and vaccine requirements to inform international travelers and provide guidance to the clinicians who serve them.

  14. How Can I Show Proof of Vaccination for COVID-19?

    Like CommonPass, Travel Pass also allows users to store lab results and vaccination certificates as digital vaccine passports on their smartphone. Similarly, individuals can print out documents to present much like a boarding pass. Some of the many airlines that are currently testing Travel Pass include: Air France. British Airways. Emirates ...

  15. COVID vaccine certificate for travel: latest updates on an NHS Pass

    A COVID vaccine certificate is physical or digital proof that you have been vaccinated against COVID-19. During the pandemic, travellers used COVID vaccine certificates to exempt themselves from specific entry restrictions imposed by various countries. However, every country is different, so it's important to always check the latest travel ...

  16. Vaccination requirements for international travel

    From some countries. Travellers who wish to enter or leave certain countries must be vaccinated against polio, usually at most twelve months and at least four weeks before crossing the border, and be able to present a vaccination record/certificate at the border checks. [3] : 25-27 Most requirements apply only to travel to or from so-called ...

  17. U.S. Yellow Fever Vaccination Center Registry -- FAQ

    International Certificates of Vaccination or Prophylaxis (ICVP) are available for purchase in quantity from the Government Printing Office bookstore. Individual copies are not available. To order, please visit U.S. Government Bookstore or call toll-free (866) 512-1800. Packages of 25 are available for $24, and packages of 100 are available for ...

  18. Think Travel Vaccine Guide

    Vaccination (2-dose vaccine): Recommended for most travelers. --Administer 2 doses, at least 6 months apart. --At least 1 dose should be given before travel. Consultation: Advise patient to wash hands frequently and avoid unsafe food and water. Hepatitis B. Sexual contact, contaminated needles, & blood products, vertical transmission.

  19. COVID-19 international travel advisories

    COVID-19 testing and vaccine rules for entering the U.S. As of May 12, 2023, noncitizen nonimmigrant visitors to the U.S. arriving by air or arriving by land or sea no longer need to show proof of being fully vaccinated against COVID-19. As of June 12, 2022, people entering the U.S. no longer need to show proof of a negative COVID-19 test .

  20. Bolsonaro and relatives accused of falsifying Covid-19 vaccination

    The presentation of a Covid-19 vaccination certificate could still be required by US customs, although, according to information from the BBC Brazil website, there were exceptions for holders of ...

  21. Going abroad? Time to check if you're up to date on measles immunity

    Americans planning to travel abroad should consult their doctors at least six weeks before traveling if they are unsure about whether they are up to date on their vaccines, the agency now says, in ...

  22. The Moscow Metro Museum of Art: 10 Must-See Stations

    Have a look (7)Elektroskaya Station before backtracking into the center of Moscow, stopping off at (8)Baumskaya, getting off the Dark Blue/#3 line at (9)Ploschad Revolyutsii. Change to the Dark Green/#2 line and go south one stop to see (10)Novokuznetskaya Station. Check out our new Moscow Indie Travel Guide, book a flight to Moscow and read 10 ...

  23. Touring the Top 10 Moscow Metro Stations

    Revolution Square Metro Station. 3. Arbatskaya Metro Station served as a shelter during the Soviet-era. It is one of the largest and the deepest metro stations in Moscow. Arbatskaya Metro Station. 4. Biblioteka Imeni Lenina Metro Station was built in 1935 and named after the Russian State Library.

  24. An Open Comparative Study of the Effectiveness and Incomparable Study

    Prior vaccination with an experimental or registered vaccine that may affect the interpretation of the study data (any coronavirus or SARS vaccines). Long-term use (more than 14 days) of immunosuppressants or other immunomodulatory drugs (immunoregulatory peptides, cytokines, interferons, immune system effector proteins (immunoglobulins ...

  25. Several probes target Brazil's Bolsonaro, but his COVID decisions are

    But there was a problem, according to a Federal Police indictment unveiled Tuesday: Bolsonaro didn't have the necessary vaccination certificate required by U.S. authorities. So Bolsonaro turned ...

  26. Double-blind, Placebo-controlled, Randomized Study of the Tolerability

    Group 1 - 150 volunteers, Vaccine 0.5 ml, 21 days interval, post-vaccination observation period of 21 days. An additional objective of the study is to evaluate the safety, immunogenicity and efficacy of the CoviVac vaccine in the period from 21 days to 24 weeks after the second vaccination in comparison with placebo throughout the study.