How do I get a French Covid health pass? Do I download it on my phone?
People will be able to, if they wish, use a feature on France's track and trace application Tous Anti Covid from June 9 to enter certain large eventsScreenshot / Tous Anti Covid
Reader question: How do I get a French Covid health pass? Do I have to download it on my phone?
There is actually no such thing as a new ‘physical’ health pass. The term ‘health pass’ (pass sanitaire in French) is being widely used to describe documents which show you have either tested negative for Covid-19, have immunity against Covid-19, or have been vaccinated against Covid-19.
These documents can be uploaded onto your smartphone or presented in paper form, so there is this option for people who do not have a smartphone or do not want to present their proof digitally.
June 9 will mark the next stage of deconfinement in France and bring about a number of significant changes and this is the date that the Covid ‘health pass’ will become operational.
See our quick guide to France’s planned deconfinement in the image below.
As stated, the ‘health pass’ is proof that you have tested negative for Covid-19 within the past 48 hours, you have already had Covid-19 and therefore have immunity, or you have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19.
You will be able to present any one of these documents digitally through France’s Covid-19 track and trace application Tous Anti Covid, or in paper form.
What will it be used for?
On proof of these documents, you will be allowed to enter certain indoor events with more than 1,000 attendees.
The certificates will also be used in conjunction with the EU’s Covid-19 health pass, which is set to launch on July 1.
The Covid health pass should not be confused with France’s check-in system that will require people to scan a QR code or fill out a logbook by hand when entering indoor areas of public places from June 9. You can read more about this separate tool here.
Getting a ‘health pass’ due to vaccination
Everyone who has been vaccinated against Covid-19 in France can now receive a certificate to prove it, if they have not already.
Since May 3, everyone fully vaccinated against Covid-19 receives a certificate with two QR codes on it. One QR code - labelled 2D-DOC - is the one that will allow you access to large events in France. It is this barcode that event staff will scan. The barcode does not contain any of your personal information. The person who scans it will only be able to certify that you have been vaccinated against Covid-19.
The other QR code on the certificate will have TousAntiCovid written next to it. This QR code will allow you to upload the certificate to the free TousAntiCovid phone application through the tool “mon carnet” (my wallet), so that you can store it there. This saves you carrying the paper certificate with you to events.
If you were fully vaccinated before May 3, you will need to get your vaccination certificate through this dedicated government website - attestation-vaccin.ameli.fr.
Getting a health pass from a negative Covid-19 test
A Covid-19 test that shows a negative result will also allow you entrance to large events. The test must have been taken within 48 hours of the event starting. It can be a PCR or rapid antigen test.
When you get a Covid-19 test in France you will receive a certificate of proof. You can choose to receive it by post or to receive a link, by text or email, to the SI-DEP website where you can access the certificate. You can then print them off or download them to your phone, etc.
Like the vaccination certificate, there will be two QR codes on the certificate, one marked 2D-DOC and the other with TousAntiCovid. It works in the same way. You can take a paper copy of this test to events and the staff will scan the 2D-DOC to see if your test is valid, or you can upload your test to TousAntiCovid via the mon carnet tool.
Getting a health pass after having had Covid-19
You will also be permitted to enter large events this summer if you have a Covid-19 test that shows you were positive between two weeks and six months before the event.
Recent Covid-19 test results will have the two QR codes on them, so in that way you will be able to take the test result to an event or upload it to the TousAntiCovid app to act as proof that you have had Covid-19.
The French government does not provide information on how you can prove that you had Covid-19 in, for example, February (before the QR code system was established), or if you tested positive for Covid-19 while in another country.
The Connexion has asked the French government for clarification on this.
The government’s website states only that the “pass sanitaire” consists of presenting, “the result of a positive RT-PCR or antigenic test attesting to the recovery of Covid, at least 15 days old and less than 6 months old.”
