Some Irish people planning to use their EU Covid Cert for travelling through Europe could be in trouble because of recent rule changes.
Rules around testing for Covid cases were relaxed in January as Ireland began to open up after tough restrictions over Christmas.
Previously, people aged between four and 39 with Covid symptoms who tested positive on an antigen test needed to get a confirmatory PCR test through the HSE.
However, from January 14, that is no longer the case and people in that age group are no longer entitled to an official HSE PCR test.
They are able to register their positive antigen test result on the HSE’s system - but that is not valid for the EU Covid Cert.
EU rules state that certificates of recovery showing that a person has recovered from Covid can only be issued following a positive PCR test, in order to qualify for the cert for travel.
It means anyone aged between four and 39, who recently tested positive for Covid on an antigen, will not be able to qualify for an EU Covid Recovery Cert.
Furthermore, this month, the EU changed its rules on the validity of its EU Covid cert.
Under the new guidelines, a 270-day validity period will be applied to the vaccine certificates, meaning people who were vaccinated over nine months ago and have not had a booster, will not be able to qualify for the cert.
In Ireland, anyone infected with Covid needs to wait three months from the date of infection to qualify for a booster.
This means a person fully vaccinated over nine months ago, who recently got Covid, needs to wait three months from the date of infection to get a booster.
It means certain Irish people may not be able to apply for an EU Covid Cert through either vaccination or recovery.
They can however still travel with an EU Covid Cert if they pay for a valid negative test result.
Senator Garret Ahearn recently raised this issue, telling politicians: "We're having a problem, which is going to develop even more so over the next number of weeks, and its in relation to people under the age of 40 who are looking to get a recovery cert after having Covid, particularly over Christmas.
"So we have a situation at the moment, through no fault of their own, where we have people under the age of 40, who have had their first vaccine, have had their second vaccine, were going to get a booster, but because they got Covid they can't have their booster for three months. But because during Christmas we asked people under 40 to do an antigen instead of a PCR test, under EU law they cannot receive a recovery Covid cert.
"This is now causing huge problems for people who are travelling, because to go into EU countries you have to have a valid Covid cert with a booster, or if you have not had a booster then you have to show proof of recovery.
"There's a huge dilemma here for people under 40, that we asked to take antigen tests, that now cant facilitate them to be able to travel into EU countries."
