VACCINE PASS. The new government system which came into force on January 24 implies the obligation to present a complete vaccination plan or a certificate of recovery from Covid-19 to access certain places.
[Mis à jour le 25 janvier 2022 à 09h30] The vaccine pass entered the French metropolitan territory on Monday. You must necessarily have been vaccinated or cured of Covid to obtain it, negative screening tests no longer having any validity. For those who have not been vaccinated, a derogation has been granted by the government to all French people engaged in a vaccination course before February 16 “subject to taking their second dose within 28 days and a negative test of less than 24 hours”, explained Prime Minister Jean Castex at a press conference on January 20. Similarly, temporary activation is granted to people who have not completed their vaccination schedule or who have not yet received their booster dose within 7 months of the previous injection.
The places subject to this new health system are the same as those currently subject to the health pass, since it is a transformation of the latter for all French people from the age of 16: museums, cinema, parks of attraction, restaurants, sports halls, interregional public transport….
But there are exceptions to the rule : the vaccination pass is not required in health and medico-social establishments, as in retirement homes and nursing homes, where the health pass remains the rule, with a possible 24-hour negative test. It is also not required in transport between Corsica and the mainland where the “Frontière” health pass remains the rule, or in the event of “compelling family or health reasons” to take long-term transport (TGV, Intercités or night trains). A simple negative test will be requested, “except in an emergency”. Finally, politicians are spared the vaccination pass, whether in the Assembly, the Senate or at political meetings.
Exceptions depending on the age of minors
Minors aged 12 to 15 are not affected by the vaccination pass, remaining subject to the health pass. As for minors aged 16 to 17, subject to the vaccination pass, they are exempt from the booster dose to activate their vaccination pass. As a reminder, no pass is required for children under 12 years old. All the answers to your questions in our file below:
To obtain this new sesame, two conditions and no longer three: present a complete vaccination plan (with booster dose from the age of 18) or a certificate of recovery from the Covid-19 dating back at least 11 days and less than 6 months. Negative PCR or antigen tests are no longer valid proof, unlike the health pass.
Non-vaccinated French people who engage in a vaccination scheme before February 16, can benefit from a valid vaccination pass provided they take their second dose within 28 days and carry out a negative screening test.
French people who already have a valid health pass through full vaccination or a valid Covid-19 recovery certificate do not have to do anything, the QR Code, paper or digital, of the health pass is automatically converted into vaccination pass. Please note, from February 15, the booster dose must be taken four months maximum after the last dose, for people aged 18 and over, in order to keep their vaccination pass.
Where to download the vaccination pass? On Ameli?
The vaccination pass can be downloaded from the Health Insurance website Ameli in a bilingual version (French-English) for vaccinated persons, but also on the SI-DEP portal, using the secure link received by SMS or e-mail for people who have carried out a Covid-19 immunity test. For French people wishing to use the digital version of the vaccine pass, they import it into the “Notebook” function of the TousAntiCovid application. If the reading of the vaccination pass provided by the control authorities “is done by a digital reader, everyone is free to present the paper version of their pass”, Bercy had specified in a press release. If you do not have internet, you can contact your healthcare professional or your vaccination center to retrieve the document in paper format.
From what age does the vaccination pass apply? 16 years old ?
All French people over the age of 16 must have a vaccination pass to go to the places where it is established. The health pass remains the rule for minors aged 12 to 15. Good to know: minors aged 16 and 17 are not conditioned to the booster dose to obtain their vaccination pass. But if they wish, they can administer a non-compulsory booster dose from Monday, January 24.
What is the deadline for obtaining the vaccination pass?
With regard to the time taken to obtain the vaccination pass, as for the health pass, the general directorate of health specified that “a person who would start his scheme today will be able to obtain a vaccination pass one week after his second dose. “, and after a month after the double injection of the Janssen vaccine.
Is the vaccination pass conditioned on the booster dose?
As with the health pass, the vaccine pass is conditional on the booster dose for people aged 18 and over, which must be carried out, from February 15, 2022, four months maximum after the last dose (first or second dose). depending on the vaccine). However, a temporary activation of the vaccine pass is granted by the government for people over 18 who have not yet received their booster dose 7 months after their previous dose. The government has also authorized the administration of the booster dose as early as 3 months after the previous dose of vaccine. “There are still 9 million French people who have not received the third dose and their pass will expire”, warned this Tuesday January 25 the Minister of Health Olivier Véran.
In order to alert the people concerned by the expiry of their vaccination pass, an option available on the TousAntiCovid application alerts you when your pass is about to expire. “Your page will change color when you present the pass, so that you can clearly see the time remaining before deactivation,” said the Minister of Health.
Rest assured, it is not necessary to resort to a mental calculation, the health insurance has put a simulator online, called My Covid Vaccine Reminder, which allows you to know your date of eligibility for the booster vaccination against Covid-19 as well as the expiry date of your vaccination pass. Accessible from a computer or smartphone, this teleservice asks you for your date of birth, if you have tested positive for Covid-19 since your last dose, the name of the vaccine used during the last injection and the date of your last injection for get the right answers.
Can we obtain a vaccination pass even if the vaccination schedule is not complete?
The application of the vaccination pass is done gradually. Unvaccinated people can temporarily obtain the device provided that they are engaged in a vaccination schedule before February 16, 2022, subject to taking their second dose within 28 days. A negative test of less than 24 hours is however requested.
Can non-vaccinated people obtain a vaccination pass?
Non-vaccinated people can receive their vaccine pass from the day of their first dose, provided they present a negative PCR or antigen test result within 24 hours, and take their 2nd dose within one month. They will have to take their booster dose within four months, unless they are under 18, for whom only two doses are enough to obtain the precious sesame.
Finally, due to medical contraindications (a dozen listed by Health Insurance, such as allergies, myocarditis or pediatric multisystem inflammatory syndrome), some French people cannot be injected with the Covid-19 vaccine. However, the vaccination pass implies a complete vaccination scheme or a certificate of recovery from Covid-19. With the implementation of the health pass, the law has already taken this particular situation into account. After going to their attending physician, the patient receives a contraindication certificate sent to Health Insurance, then receives a pass with the associated QR Code, within one week after submission of the file. The new law on the vaccine pass does not modify “in any way the rules applicable to medical contraindications to vaccination”.
Is the Covid-19 recovery certificate valid to obtain the vaccination pass?
People cured of Covid can present a certificate of recovery to obtain the new pass. “I confirm that the recovery certificate – issued to people who have been infected with covid and are not yet eligible for vaccination – gives access to the vaccination pass, under the same conditions as it gave access to the health pass”, explained the Minister of Health during debates in the National Assembly. As a reminder, you must have tested positive more than 11 days and less than 6 months ago with a PCR or antigen test to obtain, on the SI-DEP platform, a certificate of recovery from Covid-19.
Can a negative test be required, in addition to the vaccination pass?
The combination of proof of vaccination and a negative test may be required when “the interest of public health and the state of the health situation” justify it. A decree details the situations and places in which this exceptional situation is required. The Senate, however, strengthened the framework of the measure which is only applicable “when the activities hosted, by their very nature, do not make it possible to guarantee the implementation of measures likely to prevent the risks of spreading the virus ” .
What is the effective date of the vaccination pass?
The vaccination pass entered into force on metropolitan French territory on Monday January 24, after the validation of the text of the law by the Constitutional Council on January 21, then the promulgation of the law on Saturday January 22 with the publication in the Official Journal of its Application decree. In the overseas departments and territories, it is the prefects who decide on the date of entry into force of the vaccination pass.
What is the end date of the vaccination pass?
Prime Minister Jean Castex announced on January 20 at a press conference that the vaccination pass could be lifted as soon as “epidemic and hospital pressure were to be reduced in a lasting way”. However, the law transforming the health pass into a vaccination pass respects the same period of validity: until July 31, 2022. “We voted to extend the state of health emergency exit which ends on July 31, 2022. I do not see how we could maintain this vaccination pass beyond July 31, 2022, the deadline anyway”, confirmed on January 17 on France Info the LREM deputy Julien Borowczyk, president of the information mission of the National Assembly on the management of the health crisis.