6 important facts: check out what changes for the owners of vaccination certificates starting from tomorrow!

On February 1st 2022, the duration of EU vaccination certificates created after the primary series of COVID vaccination will change from one year to nine months, which means that the certificates of almost 15,000 people will expire. In addition, the marking of booster doses will change, as does the information concerning minors in the Estonian Covid control app.

The following is an overview of the changes put together by the Health and Welfare Information Systems Centre (TEHIK), an institution where the technical solution of Covid certificates was created.

covid tõend

1. The vaccination certificates of approximately 15,000 people (whose last vaccination dose was done more than 9 months (270 days) ago) will expire. The following people must renew their certificates in digilugu.ee:
- people who have got a booster dose and have not yet created a new certificate;
- people who have got a booster dose and whose primary vaccination course consisted of one vaccine (one dose of Janssen, or those who have recovered and got one dose of a two-dose vaccine).
People whose vaccinations were done before 7th of May 2021 and who have not got a booster dose have to get a booster shot for getting a new certificate.

2. The certificate created after having the booster dose is valid for 12 months (365 days) following the booster shot.

3. The marking on a certificate changes for people whose primary vaccination series consisted of one dose (they either got a one-dose vaccine or recovered from Covid-19 and got one dose of a two-dose vaccine) and who have got a booster dose. Instead of the current 2/2 marking they can create a new certificate with marking 2/1, referring to the fact that their first vaccination series consisted of 1 shot. This marking is counted as a booster dose by the Estonian Covid control app and it is necessary for

travelling abroad. Nothing changes for people who have certificates with a 3/3 marking.

4. We will start notifying people whose certificates are to expire. They will be notified by e-mail 30 days and 2 days before the expiry of their certificate. For that, the e-mail in the citizen portal eesti.ee must be redirected to a personal e-mail address. This information is also available in the Patient Portal digilugu.ee and everyone can check the validity of their certificates by scanning the QR-code of their certificate on the webpage kontroll.digilugu.ee. The duration of certificates can also be checked by using the calculator on the webpage vaktsineeri.ee.

5. When the certificate owner is a minor, a notification is sent to the controller of the certificate in Estonia via kontroll.digilugu.ee. The duration of a vaccination certificate issued after a finished vaccination course for under 18-year-olds is 15 months. The controller will get an orange notification in the app that they must ask for a document from minors to prove their age. For travelling abroad, the duration of a minor’s certificate is similar to adults, lasting for 9 months

6. In addition, there are 229,000 certificates that have already expired or are about to expire soon. Those certificates have been created before 21st October 2021, when their technical duration was 180 days. We advise the owners of these certificates to create a new one, as the expired certificates can only be used within the territory of Estonia and in case the controller of the certificate uses the kontroll.digilugu.ee app.