Only Those Vaccinated With COVID-19 Vaccines Approved by EMA or WHO Can Enter Iceland Restriction-Free
Iceland is the first European country that started granting COVID-19 certificates to its citizens vaccinated against COVID-19 and to permit restriction-free entry for other EU and Schengen Area citizens holding proof they have been vaccinated against COVID-19.
However, for travellers from other EU and Schengen countries, just being vaccinated will not be enough in order to enter Iceland restriction-free, as Iceland has reserved this benefit only to those who have been vaccinated with one of the vaccines authorized by the European Medicines Agency or the World Health Organization.
According to the Icelandic government’s Directorate of Health, the only certificates accepted at the country’s points of entry for exemption from COVID-19 testing and quarantine are certificates of vaccination against COVID-19 if that fulfil the criteria set forth by Iceland’s Chief Epidemiologist.
These are the “certificates of vaccination from the EEA/EFTA-area with a vaccine authorized by the European Medicines Agency,” as well as “certificates from the World Health Organization (WHO) (the International Certificate of Vaccination or the Carte Jaune/Yellow Card) for vaccines the WHO has validated.”
Currently, there are three vaccines authorized by the European Medicines Agency, which are as follows:
- Community; Pfizer-BioNTech
- COVID-19 Vaccine Moderna
- COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca
At the same time, the vaccines validated by the WHO are as follows:
- Comirnaty; Pfizer/BioNTech
- COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca
- Covidshield COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca
The Icelandic Department of Health will be updating the list of valid vaccines in order to enter Iceland, restriction-free, the same department notes.
“Certificates may be in paper or electronic format. Border control will evaluate whether a certificate is valid and will consult a representative of the Chief Epidemiologist (health care worker) as needed. The final decision of whether a certificate is valid is at the discretion of the Chief Epidemiologist,” the Department of Health notes.
The same explains that in cases when an arriving traveller presents an invalid document, he/she will have to under entry restrictions as quarantine and testing, like the rest of the travellers who hold no proof of vaccination.
In order for a vaccine certificate to be valid, it should be either in Icelandic, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, English or French. Documents in other languages are accepted only if they are attached to a certified stamped translation in any of the languages listed above.
The certificate should contain the following information:
- Name and surname, date of birth, and nationality.
- Passport number.
- Name of disease vaccinated against (COVID-19)
- Dates of vaccinations, manufacturer and batch/lot no. of the vaccine.
- Information on body issuing the certificate (supervising clinician/administering centre), with signature if the International Certificate of Vaccination.
- Details on the vaccines authorized by the EMA: (Name of vaccine, authorization holder/manufacturer; number and interval between vaccine doses).
The Department of Health also clarifies that even travellers who are vaccinated against COVID-19 with one of the acceptable vaccines listed above still need to pre-register at covid.is before they arrive in Iceland.
Current rules oblige all travellers arriving in Iceland to undergo testing for COVID-19 at the border, quarantine, and then second testing on the fifth day of quarantine.
