EU Recognizes Georgian COVID-19 Certificates
By Natalia Kochiashvili
Tuesday, November 16
EU foreign ministers have decided to recognize certificates of vaccination, testing, and recovery for COVID-19 issued by several neighboring and partner countries, including Georgia. Moldova, Serbia, and New Zealand were also connected to the EU’s travel pass system. A total of 49 countries’ COVID-19 vaccination certificates are now recognized by the EU, of which 22 are non-EU countries.
According to the European Commission, at the request of Georgia, it conducted technical tests on 14 November, ‘which showed that the COVID-19 Vaccination, Testing and Recovery Certificate issued by Georgia complies with the 'Georgia e-health App system.’
The European Commission has also confirmed that the COVID-19 Vaccination, Testing, and Recovery Certificates issued in Georgia contain all the necessary information.
According to the Commission, Georgia has informed that it is issuing compatible certificates for COVID-19 vaccination, as well as compatible certificates for testing, but not for antigen tests. Certificates of recovery are compatible as well. Fully vaccinated persons holding the pass shall be exempt from testing or quarantine 14 days after receiving the last dose.
Meanwhile, recovered persons are exempt during the first 180 days after a positive PCR test, and persons with a test certificate are exempt within 72 hours of a PCR test and 48 hours for rapid antigen tests.
The European Commission said in a statement on the technical functioning of the certificates that, as the Georgian side informed it when the certificates were verified in Georgia, ‘the personal data contained therein will be processed only to check and confirm the patronage, vaccination results and recovery status.’
Georgia’s COVID certificate can be obtained at Public Service Hall and its Service Centers, or digitally on covidpass.moh.gov.ge. The authorities are also testing a smartphone application for the passes.
The European Commission concluded that certificates issued under the 'Georgia e-health App' system should be allowed in the EU to facilitate free movement in the EU should be considered equivalent to block certificates. The decision of the European Commission will enter into force on 16 November, following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.
As Oliver Varhelyi, the European Commissioner for Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement said, “not only will it be easier for citizens of these countries to travel to the EU, but EU citizens will also be able to travel to these countries.”
Recall that Georgia rolled out its vaccination in mid-March 2021. NCDC Georgia has reported on November 15 that 1,075,731 persons had received at least one jab of the COVID-19 vaccine, among them 966,790 are fully vaccinated.
Against the background of the deteriorating epidemiological situation in Georgia, the rate of vaccination has sharply decreased. The daily vaccination rate in October was only twice as high as 9,000, and since the beginning of November, it has not even reached 4,000, while the Ministry of Health and the NCDC considered it necessary to get at least 30,000 vaccinations a day.
On November 3, Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili called the situation catastrophic and said that everyone was responsible for it. Among them, Zurabishvili mentioned the patriarchate, “which still refrains from giving blessings, which allows certain clergy to preach anti-Vax propaganda.”
From November 10, following the parents’ decision, children aged 12 to 15 are allowed to be vaccinated with the Pfizer vaccine against Covid. Citizens over 18 can also receive the booster dose if it has been 6 months since the second dose of the vaccine.
Georgian authorities have confirmed 1,820 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the tally of the total confirmed cases to 785,911. The number of fatalities rose by 82 to 11,057. To date, the number of active cases stands at 52,429.
