In our regular sum-up of recent coronavirus news, you can read all about the decrease in the intensity of mass testing, new vaccination certificate expiry date, and a new partially-Czech COVID-19 vaccine called Novavax about to become available soon. The article also explains the ins and outs of relocating to Czechia with a foreign vaccination certificate.

Vaccinations older than 9 months without a booster expire on 15 February.

Changes in mass testing

As of 31 January, those who have had a positive PCR test do not need to get tested again (i.e. participate in mass testing or test as a risk contact) for the duration of 30 days. The 30-day time limit starts when you come out of isolation. Also as of 31 January:

• primary schools, secondary schools, and lyceums will only be testing its students once a week. The same goes for their employees
• kindergartens will continue testing their pupils twice a week
• universities, art schools, and language schools do not have to test their students at all, although it is recommended to get tested before an exam

 

Reminder: vaccination certificate validity

As we already informed in our previous article, the validity of your vaccination is about to become shorter, unless you’ve also been vaccinated with a booster shot. 

While your original 1 or 2-shot vaccination certificate is still valid without any limitations until 14 February, it will only be valid for 9 months from the administration as of 15 February. If you have the Tečka app, your expired certificate will turn red.

 

 

Is my foreign vaccination certificate valid in Czechia?

If you’re about to relocate to Czechia from a foreign country, you might be asking the question of whether you’ll be able to get here using your vaccination certificate.

If you got your shots in the EU, you shouldn’t run into any problems since you can just use your EU COVID-19 pass. That being said, if you want to use the Tečka app (which you’ll need in most establishments and services, such as restaurants), you have to visit your Czech doctor or any vaccination center without registration to have it imported into the Czech system.

If your vaccination comes from a third (non-EU) country, make sure that it is on the list of accepted countries and looks like one of the examples on the Ministry of Health website (scroll down to find your country’s name, you can use Google translate for better orientation). You may present this certificate upon entering the country. 

Once you get to Czechia, make sure to visit your Czech doctor or vaccination center without registration, bring your foreign certificate, and it will be imported into the Czech EU COVID-19 pass system for you. Once it’s there, you can also download the Tečka app and start using it.

 

Getting your booster abroad

If you haven’t got your booster yet, make sure you don’t leave Czechia if there’s a danger that your vaccination expires while you’re away as you might not be able to come back, depending on the conditions for entry from your particular country.

If you leave Czechia and let your vaccination expire, you can of course get your booster shot aboard. However, if you do this, make sure that your country is on the list of accepted countries and your booster certificate follows the examples on the Ministry of Health website and upon entry present both your original Czech vaccination certificates and your new booster certificates. Once you get to Czechia, ask your doctor or a vaccination center to import your booster into the Czech system as well. 

 

Novavax vaccine available soon

The Minister of Health announced that pre-registrations for the new Novavax vaccine will open on Tuesday, 1 February. 

Novavax is also a two-shot vaccine, so if you haven’t been vaccinated yet, make sure that you go twice. The interval between the two shots is 21 days.

It is still not clear whether this vaccine will also be used for booster shots.

 

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Article sources: ct24, MZCR
Photo source: Gustavo Fring, pexels.com