French vaccine pass: Grace period for last-minute booster recipients

People who received their booster doses at the last minute before vaccine pass validity periods changed yesterday (February 15) are being accorded a grace period of one week before their passes are deactivated.

Yesterday, the time frame in which people could receive a booster dose before their vaccine pass expired was shortened from seven months after their second to four.

The QR code displayed on vaccination certificates becomes valid seven days after injection, government information page Service-public.fr states, and so people who had just received their booster in the past week were at risk of losing their pass.

However, the extra week of validity should mean that those who got their additional dose before the deadline – that is, up to Monday (February 14) – do not miss out.

Nearly four million people were set to see their passes expire yesterday, according to the health ministry, which also announced the grace period.

Read more: Easy-look chart: Who can now get a Covid vaccine pass in France?

Some nine million people had not yet received their booster dose as of Monday, but at least half of them have been infected with Covid and so will be able to use a certificate of recovery for their vaccine pass.

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