Sweden to launch new vaccine pass tool for foreign vaccinations
Sweden is set to launch a new service next year which will allow residents who got vaccinated overseas to apply for a Swedish vaccine pass.
The Health Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday that the service is expected to be rolled out by February 1st 2022 "at the latest".
The statement said it will initially be available to people who “have moved back to Sweden, got registered in the Swedish population register [this is essentially the equivalent of having a Swedish social security number, the personnummer] and have a digital mailbox”.
"We know that people who are vaccinated but haven't been able to get Swedish Covid certificates because the vaccinations took place in a third country are frustrated. At the same time it is important that a person who gets a Covid certificate really is vaccinated and that this can be checked. We now have a solution for how this will be done," Health Minister Lena Hallengren said in the statement.
IN BRIEF: How to get your Covid-19 vaccine pass in Sweden
The government said it was still looking into how to offer vaccine passes to other people in Sweden who got vaccinated in a third country but do not otherwise meet the requirements above. Only people who can show they intend to stay in Sweden for at least a year can formally become a resident in the population register, which excludes for example many overseas exchange students and Master's students.
Holders of EU-issued vaccine passes, and passes from non-EU/EEA countries that have joined the EU's digital Covid certificate system, are treated as the equivalent of Sweden's vaccine pass, so people who got vaccinated in those countries do not need a Swedish vaccine pass.
The government also said that people who received their first two doses in a third country but need to get their booster dose in Sweden are able to apply for a vaccine pass via covidbevis.se. It added that for this to be possible the vaccination needs to be registered in the National Vaccination Register, so in that case you should make sure you ask your vaccine administrator to register the booster as your third dose.
The government's statement on Wednesday did not mention foreigners who got vaccinated in Sweden but do not yet have a personnummer or a temporary samordningsnummer, but it has previously said that they should be able to apply for a vaccine pass from the turn of the year.
The Local has in a series of articles since the vaccine passes were launched on July 1st covered the issue of how thousands of fully vaccinated foreigners (as well as many Swedes living abroad) have been excluded from the system. Initially, only people with a personnummer were allowed to apply for one, but at the time Sweden only used them for exemptions to border restrictions.
Since December 1st, many large public events have also required attendees to present a valid vaccine pass. From December 23rd, indoor public events with more than 20 attendees must either require vaccine passes, or seat groups of people one metre away from each other, with a limit of eight people per group, and events with more than 500 people must always use vaccine passes.
The pass needs to show that you are fully vaccinated. Under current Swedish rules this means that you have had either one dose of the Janssen (Johnson & Johnson) vaccine, or two doses of Comirnaty (Pfizer/BioNTech), Spikevax (Moderna) or Vaxzevria (AstraZeneca), with the second dose administered at least two weeks previously. The Local has contacted the government to find out how the new tool to register foreign vaccinations will affect residents who got vaccinated with another vaccine, for example India's Covishield.
Many European countries are further ahead than Sweden when it comes to offering people vaccinated outside of the union the EU digital Covid certificate. In France, for instance, US visitors with a CDC certificate or Indians who got a Covishield vaccination back in India can go to the pharmacy to get an EU-issued QR code for free.
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The Health Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday that the service is expected to be rolled out by February 1st 2022 "at the latest".
The statement said it will initially be available to people who “have moved back to Sweden, got registered in the Swedish population register [this is essentially the equivalent of having a Swedish social security number, the personnummer] and have a digital mailbox”.
"We know that people who are vaccinated but haven't been able to get Swedish Covid certificates because the vaccinations took place in a third country are frustrated. At the same time it is important that a person who gets a Covid certificate really is vaccinated and that this can be checked. We now have a solution for how this will be done," Health Minister Lena Hallengren said in the statement.
IN BRIEF: How to get your Covid-19 vaccine pass in Sweden
The government said it was still looking into how to offer vaccine passes to other people in Sweden who got vaccinated in a third country but do not otherwise meet the requirements above. Only people who can show they intend to stay in Sweden for at least a year can formally become a resident in the population register, which excludes for example many overseas exchange students and Master's students.
Holders of EU-issued vaccine passes, and passes from non-EU/EEA countries that have joined the EU's digital Covid certificate system, are treated as the equivalent of Sweden's vaccine pass, so people who got vaccinated in those countries do not need a Swedish vaccine pass.
The government also said that people who received their first two doses in a third country but need to get their booster dose in Sweden are able to apply for a vaccine pass via covidbevis.se. It added that for this to be possible the vaccination needs to be registered in the National Vaccination Register, so in that case you should make sure you ask your vaccine administrator to register the booster as your third dose.
The government's statement on Wednesday did not mention foreigners who got vaccinated in Sweden but do not yet have a personnummer or a temporary samordningsnummer, but it has previously said that they should be able to apply for a vaccine pass from the turn of the year.
The Local has in a series of articles since the vaccine passes were launched on July 1st covered the issue of how thousands of fully vaccinated foreigners (as well as many Swedes living abroad) have been excluded from the system. Initially, only people with a personnummer were allowed to apply for one, but at the time Sweden only used them for exemptions to border restrictions.
Since December 1st, many large public events have also required attendees to present a valid vaccine pass. From December 23rd, indoor public events with more than 20 attendees must either require vaccine passes, or seat groups of people one metre away from each other, with a limit of eight people per group, and events with more than 500 people must always use vaccine passes.
The pass needs to show that you are fully vaccinated. Under current Swedish rules this means that you have had either one dose of the Janssen (Johnson & Johnson) vaccine, or two doses of Comirnaty (Pfizer/BioNTech), Spikevax (Moderna) or Vaxzevria (AstraZeneca), with the second dose administered at least two weeks previously. The Local has contacted the government to find out how the new tool to register foreign vaccinations will affect residents who got vaccinated with another vaccine, for example India's Covishield.
Many European countries are further ahead than Sweden when it comes to offering people vaccinated outside of the union the EU digital Covid certificate. In France, for instance, US visitors with a CDC certificate or Indians who got a Covishield vaccination back in India can go to the pharmacy to get an EU-issued QR code for free.
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