Spain to Allow Those Vaccinated with All WHO-Approved

Spain will no longer require travelers to have a yellow fever vaccination if they are fully vaccinated with jabs authorised by the World Health Organization.

Under previous rules, holidaymakers were required to be fully jabbed with authorised vaccines produced by Pfizer-BionTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca (when produced in Europe), Johnson & Johnson and Novavax.

However this has now been scrapped as European Union countries agreed to open their borders to travellers from outside the bloc who have had shots against COVID-19 authorised by the World Health Organization, easing restrictions on those who received Indian and Chinese vaccines. 

In addition to these shots, the WHO has also approved the vaccines produced by Chinese makers Sinopharm (1099.HK) and Sinovac (SVA.O) and by Indian company Bharat Biotech. It has also approved the AstraZeneca vaccine made in India by the Serum Institute.

The rule change will come into place on March 1. 

Until now, most EU countries have not admitted people from outside the bloc travelling for non-essential reasons if are unvaccinated or they have been vaccinated with shots not approved in the EU.

On Saturday a report published by the Official State Gazette (BOE) said Spain would lift the temporary restriction on non-essential travel to the EU for persons vaccinated with an EU- or WHO-approved vaccine. 

Like other popular holiday destinations including France, Greece and Portugal, Spain has eased their travel rules for vaccinated travellers outside the EU. 

Travellers still need to meet other entry requirements such as signing a passenger locator form which includes a sworn statement that they are not suffering from any coronavirus symptoms.

Unvaccinated travellers from outside the EU-bloc including UK, are still banned from non-essential travel including for tourism purposes.

It’s worth noting what counts as being fully vaccinated in Spain if you are not a Spanish national, EU citizen and their non-EU family members or a British passport holder with residency in Spain.

To qualify, you need to have received your full vaccination course within 270 days – or nine months – of arrival. Otherwise, you’ll need to show proof of a booster jab to be considered as fully jabbed.

Related Article: Taiwan to open borders to travelers in March

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