International Travel

Indians undertaking international travel for educational purposes, or employment opportunities, or as part of India's contingent for Tokyo Olympic games will have to get their CoWIN certificates to be linked to their passport for covid-19 vaccination, the centre government said on 7th June.

At present, based on the recommendations by National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for covid-19 (NEGVAC), the schedule of Covid-19 Vaccination Strategy is to administer the 2nd dose at 12-16 weeks interval (i.e. after 84 days), after administration of 1st dose.

To provide the full coverage of vaccination and facilitate international travel for genuine reasons, the following procedure will have to be followed for administration of 2nd dose of Covid-19 vaccine for such beneficiaries. This special dispensation will be available to:- Students who have to undertake foreign travel for the purposes of education, persons who have to take up jobs in foreign countries, Athletes, Sportspersons and accompanying staff of Indian contingent attending International Olympic Games, union health ministry said in a statement.

The central government said that the States/UT governments will designate a competent authority in each district for permission for such administration of 2nd dose of the vaccine. The competent authority will check the following before according a permission for administration of 2nd dose before the period of 84 days after date of first dose —whether a period of 28 days has elapsed after the date of first dose, genuineness of the purpose of travel based on documents related to admission Offers or associated formal communications for the of education, whether a person is already studying a foreign educational institution and has to return to that institution for continuing their education, interview calls for a job or offer letters for taking up employment and Nomination to participate in the Tokyo Olympic games," the government said.

Vaccination may be available in cases through a passport which is one of the permissible ID documents as per the current guidelines so that the passport number is printed in the Certificate. If a passport was not used at the time of administration of 1st dose, the details of the photo ID card used for vaccination will be printed in the vaccination certificate and mention of the passport in the vaccination certificate is not to be insisted upon. Wherever necessary, the competent authority may issue another certificate linking the vaccination certificate with the passport number of the beneficiary.

This facility will be available only to those who need to undertake international travel for these specified purposes in the period up to 31st August, 2021. All technical protocols as prescribed in the guidelines of the Ministry regarding COVID Vaccination Centres will have to be followed.

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