French Covid vaccine certificates to be updated for travel on June 22

France will update its Covid-19 vaccination certificates on June 22 to make them compatible with an EU-wide travel system, which is set to launch on July 1.

For people who have added their certificates to the French application TousAntiCovid this will happen automatically.

The new vaccination certificate will have a QR code that will function with verification tools in use in all other EU countries to check Covid-19 tests and vaccination certificates issued in any member state.

The system is confusingly called the “EU Digital COVID Certificate”. It actually refers to vaccination certificates issued separately by each member state, or standard Covid-19 tests that either prove a traveller is negative for Covid-19 (taken within the past 72 hours) or was positive between two weeks and six months prior to travelling.

Travellers can choose to present these documents in paper format or digitally via their country’s dedicated app, if there is one.

France is currently issuing vaccination certificates to people who have a social security number, which can be used to allow them access to large events of over 1,000 people.

What big events in France require a ‘health pass’ from today?

These vaccination certificates do not currently have a QR code compatible with the proposed EU system.

For anyone who has already added their vaccination certificate to the TousAntiCovid phone application, through the Wallet tool (Mon carnet), their certificates will automatically be updated on June 22, France’s digital minister Cédric O said.

People who have their vaccination certificates in paper format should go to France’s national health insurance website Ameli to download a new version of their certificate from June 22.

For people who have been vaccinated in France but are not in the French healthcare system and so cannot access the website, Ameli advises they ask their doctor, pharmacist or the vaccination centre where they were vaccinated to help them obtain a vaccination certificate.

The Connexion has not yet been able to verify if this works.

People who are not fully vaccinated against Covid-19 can still travel by using Covid-19 tests. The test certificates are accessible through the government site sidep.gouv.fr, and will, from June 22, have the new QR codes on them.

Again, people who are not in the French healthcare system and therefore unable to access this site, should ask the health professional who carried out their test to give them a Covid-19 test certificate.

The EU definitively adopted the law that approves the “EU Digital COVID Certificate” scheme yesterday (June 9) and reiterated the expected start date of July 1.

Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Spain have already connected to the EU-built framework allowing vaccination certificates or Covid-19 tests issued there to be verified in other EU countries.

The “EU Digital COVID Certificate” scheme is due to remain in place for one year.

For more information on the scheme, see the EU’s website here.

Read more:

French health pass launches today: How and when to use it