Covid Scotland: Vaccine passport to include boosters from December 9

Scotland’s Covid-19 vaccine certification app will be updated to include booster doses from December 9, the Scottish Government has said.

This will allow Scots to travel to European countries which plan to include booster jags as a certification requirement from December 15, Deputy First Minister John Swinney told Holyrood’s Covid-19 Recovery Committee on Thursday.

However, boosters will only be included in the section of the app designed for international travel, rather than that intended for domestic use such as access to nightclubs or sporting events.

This will take more time to update, said Elizabeth Sadler, from the Scottish Government’s Covid Ready Society. In the meantime, she said, Scots will be considered “fully vaccinated” after two doses.

A person shows a Covid passport as she enters La Belle Angele nightclub on November 25, 2021 in Edinburgh, Scotland. Photo by Peter Summers/Getty Images

It comes ahead of a change to the vaccine certification scheme that will allow Scots to use proof of a negative lateral flow test as an alternative to a vaccine passport from December 6.

These tests will not be incorporated into the app. Instead, people will be asked to show NHS notifications confirming a negative test.

“The app will be updated for international travel and boosters from the ninth of December,” Ms Sadler told the committee.

“It will take longer for the app to be updated to include boosters for domestic certification.

“The current domestic certification scheme defines fully vaccinated as having had two vaccines and doesn't at the moment include the requirement of a booster.”

Mr Swinney added: “There is a critical date of the 15th of December when a number of European countries will make it mandatory for booster jags to be evidence of Covid vaccine certificates and the update will be in place by then.”

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