Two jabs post-Covid now possible in France for travellers to UK

An alert has been sent out to vaccination centres across France notifying medics that people who have only received one vaccine after recovering from Covid, as is the practice in France, can now have a second jab so as to ease international travel.

The news will come as a relief to vaccinated people living in France who have had Covid and plan to travel to the UK but were caught in a technicality between how health officials here and in the UK define ‘fully-vaccinated’ passengers.

The update with the news came from the Direction Générale de la Santé to The Connexion last night (August 8), the day the UK relaxed rules to allow ‘fully’ vaccinated travellers from France to come without the need to quarantine.

On Friday The Connexion reported how thousands of ‘fully vaccinated’ people arriving from France to the UK would still have to self isolate despite the country’s new amber status.

Read more: Why some fully-jabbed people in France must still quarantine in the UK

This is due to a discrepancy in how France and the UK recognize natural immunity meaning that people who have received one dose of Pfizer or Moderna after recovering from the coronavirus are considered fully vaccinated in France but not in the UK and therefore would not be exempt from quarantine following yesterday’s rule change.

More than 3.1 million people in France are considered fully-vaccinated having had just one vaccine, according to the latest figures from the Direction Générale de la Santé.

“The single-dose vaccination scheme recognized in France (Covid recovery + 1 dose Pfizer or Moderna + 7 days), is not recognized as complete vaccination by the UK,” a spokeswoman said. “Those who still wish to receive the second dose in order to travel can do so.”

The spokeswoman said this point has now been clarified to vaccination centers via an internal health service messaging service, DGS-Urgent.

The news was welcomed by journalist Suzanna Chambers who had last week been refused a second vaccination by the Metropole Nice Côte d'Azur vaccination centre.

“I called them up to ask if myself and my family, all of whom have had Covid, could have another dose to allow us to travel to the UK and they said it wasn't possible. This confirmation is great news, we’ll be going down to the drop in vaccination centre today,” she added.