Double boost for half term breaks: Covid passes for teens – and end of dreaded tests
TEENAGERS will be able to get Covid passes for holidays abroad and testing requirements for fully jabbed travellers will be dropped early next month.
In a double-boost for half-term holidays expected to be announced tomorrow, 12- to-15-year-olds will be able to download the digital proof of vaccination, making travel in countries that require Covid certification easier. The changes will come in early February.
There will no longer be any requirement for a Covid test for passengers flying into Britain, provided they have had their jabs.
While under-18s remain exempt from showing Covid passes in the UK, venues in France, Switzerland, Greece, Germany, Austria and Cyprus require children over 12 to show proof of vaccination, a recent negative Covid-19 test or proof of recovery from the virus.
Teenagers will now be able to download their pass either through
the NHS app or website. A Government source said it will save families an ‘administrative nightmare’, while dropping the testing requirement will ‘make holiday admin much more manageable’.
At present, fully jabbed travellers have to book and pay for a Covid
latest flow test which they take on arrival. Unvaccinated travellers will still need to take a test after arriving in Britain.
Earlier this month, testing rules introduced as a result of the Omicron variant that required a PCR test on arrival were scrapped, as well as self-isolation requirements for fully jabbed travellers.
In an additional boost for half-term and Easter breaks, Ministers are pushing to safeguard those with pre-booked holidays from being required to show proof of a booster vaccine in order to avoid the restrictions on the unvaccinated.
It is understood Transport Secretary Grant Shapps is the lead advocate for this exemption.
Boosters are expected to be included in the definition of ‘fully vaccinated’ to fly in the spring, although a final decision has not yet been made on the timing.
The third shots will show up automatically in the NHS digital Covid Pass.
A source familiar with the talks said Ministers ‘won’t want to do anything to ruin people’s existing holiday plans’.
More than 36million people in the UK have had their booster jab.
Last week, Prime Minister Boris Johnson told MPs that people ‘need to appreciate the value of vaccination for ease of travel, particularly boosters’.
He added: ‘I think it’s very important everybody in the country understands that getting your booster, wherever you want to go in the world, is going to be a pretty crucial thing to do.’
This will save families ‘an administrative nightmare’