France travel: I was boosted after deadline, do I count as vaccinated?

Reader Question: I am planning to travel to France from the UK in April. If I didn’t get a booster within 270 days of my second vaccine dose but have done so now, do I count as fully vaccinated for travel or does the additional dose have to be received within that nine month period?

Since February, adults travelling to France have been required to receive a booster vaccine dose within 270 days of their second in order to continue to be classed as ‘fully vaccinated’.

This followed the introduction of an EU rule to the same effect regarding travel between member states.

Read more:Covid booster dose requirement extends to all travellers to France

France’s interior ministry website states that: “In order to be considered fully vaccinated, persons aged 18 and one month or over wishing to enter national territory must have received a complementary dose of an mRNA vaccine [Pfizer or Moderna] no later than nine months following the injection of the last required dose.

“The measures applied to vaccinated adults are extended under the same conditions to their accompanying minors, whether vaccinated or not.”

If a person does not get their booster within 270 days of their second dose, they will be classed as not fully vaccinated when travelling to France, and will be subject to the related restrictions.

For travel from an orange list country – currently including the UK – this would mean having to present an essential reason for travel and take a pre-departure test.

However, the European Commission states that: “When you receive an additional dose after those 270 days, this will still be indicated as a booster dose in your EU Digital Covid Certificate.

“Your new certificate will be valid immediately and will have no validity period for travel.”

So, even when your ‘fully vaccinated’ status expires, it can still be reactivated through a booster dose at any time.

France’s TousAntiCovid health and vaccine pass app is linked to this EU-wide system, and so if you are using it to present your vaccination records, you should not encounter any problems.

Even if you are using the NHS app for your vaccination certificates, your travel operator would normally only scan your most up-to-date record, which will be your booster showing ‘Dose 3 of 3’ or ‘2 of 1’ in the case of a person who initially received the single-dose Janssen jab.

This can be downloaded to your smartphone wallet and will be presented as a single QR code reflecting that you have received all required doses for travel.

Read more:French health pass and UK QR code: What to do if certificate expires

The Connexion knows of travellers who received booster doses after the 270 day time frame had elapsed but who subsequently travelled to France with no issues.

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