Entering France beyond vaccine certificate validity period
I am planning for a visit to France end of March. I'm an EU national but from a country outside of the Schengen space (all EU countries are on France's the green list BTW) and I have been vaccinated twice with Pfizer in my home country. The second vaccination was in April 2020 and therefore the certificate is deemed invalid as per current policy.
My questions are :
What is the official guidance for my case? Do you know a website on whose information I can really rely on?
What is de facto happening at the airport when entering, are checks being made? How strict are they? From my past travel experience in the pandemic I know that it can be quite a wide gap between official recommendations and the (non-)verification of COVID certificates of individuals at the border.
Even if you have information only regarding one of these questions I'd be very interested. Various websites on the internet seem not to be updated and to reflect latest guidance (I understand there was a recent update of rules because of Omicron), because I keep stumbling on contradictory information and I really would like to know whether there is a risk of quarantine under my situation.
Best Answer
You may take a booster if one is offered in your country. A booster is not required to enter the country but most public places like restaurants etc will accept a health pass for which a booster shot is required if 4+ months have passed post your second dose of mRNA vaccine.
I have found that the wordings in the official website might be a bit confusing. An unofficial version of the explanation can also be found at https://thepointsguy.com/news/french-vaccine-pass/
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Answer 2
Depuis le 1er février 2022, pour que leur schéma vaccinal reste reconnu comme complet, les personnes de 18 ans ou plus souhaitant entrer sur le territoire national doivent avoir reçu une dose de vaccin à ARN messager complémentaire au plus tard 9 mois suivant l’injection de la dernière dose requise.
Translation:
Since February 1, 2022, in order for their vaccination schedule to remain recognized as complete, people aged 18 or over wishing to enter the national territory must have received a dose of complementary messenger RNA vaccine no later than 9 months following the injection of the last required dose.
Sounds like you'll have to take a covid test to enter, unless you are one of the exceptions.
Answer 3
The official rules can be found on this page and that one.
Il convient de relever que tout voyageur entrant sur le territoire français en provenance d’un pays extérieur à l’espace européen doit présenter un test PCR ou antigénique négatif de moins de 48 heures. Pour les voyageurs non vaccinés en provenance du Royaume-Uni, le délai de réalisation du test PCR ou antigénique est de 24 heures.
Any person aged 12 and over entering French territory must present a negative PCR or antigen test less than 24 or 48 hours old, depending on the country of origin.
The government announced yesterday that rules are going to be relaxed soon for people fully vaccinated (i.e. with a booster or two jabs and a recovery certificate) but it is not yet published.
According to your status, you would need a less than 24 h old PCR or antigen test. I can't tell how strong the rules are enforced. That certainly vary depending on the transportation method (car, train, plane...) but I have no doubt that there are more people unchecked than checked.
End of March is far. We switched many times between optimism (the current trend) and pessimism (new variants and waves) so anything can change before your arrival. Some media start to talk about a possible end of the pass vaccinal by the end of March.
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